‘Go,’ she had said. That was all. Not ‘I love you,’ or ‘Take care,’ or ‘Please come back to me,’ only that single word. That was her farewell and it undid her.
She felt the pressure of an arm around her. La Mar was holding her.
‘They are boarding now. The grey and the brown first. The marines do them an honour,’ said the Amazon Commander.
Aesca searched for Michael, terrified she would not see him. Her heart thumped. There! A big man stood next to Tollen at the edge of the ramp where service and supplymen marched onto the nearest transport, the old marine’s grey hair marking him, even from this distance, in the throng below. But the big man was in brown. Steamsetter, she realised, not Michael.
Tollen followed the last of his men up the ramp, casually, as if he was off to the mess. The floor came alive as marines moved forward to the transports. Aesca panicked. I can’t see him!
The marines did not march. In bands of ten or so, with full packs on and weapons slung, they went up the ramps as casually as Tollen.
‘Ah, they are fine!’ she heard one of the women say. She did not know which.
‘There he is. There is your man,’ said La Mar quietly. ‘By the far transport.’
She saw him! Stepping on to the foot of the ramp.
A wild cry tore the air by her head. A heady ululation full of pride. It rang off the walls and ceiling, filling the immense space of the hangar. All motion stopped below as the marines turned to find its source. It was La Mar, behind her now, but still with her hands on Aesca’s waist, steadying her.
Far across the hangar she saw the white of Michael’s face. He waved to her. She lifted her hand from the rail and waved back. As if on a signal, all was motion again. Mike turned and in an instant was gone from her sight.
‘Shit, La Mar. I nearly pissed myself when you did that,’ complained Rhone.
The transports rumbled to life and rolled out of the hangar one by one. The crowd followed, seeming to flow down the walkways and out the wide opening, disappearing onto the plain beyond.
Aesca and the Amazons stayed on their high perch. A spot of grey fought the current of colours on the stairs, gaining size and shape as it got closer, finally becoming Gati. Puffing from his rapid ascent, he joined them, a smile for Bethane and then another for the rest, different yet full of warmth.
That’s what I want from Michael, thought Aesca dropping her eyes to the deck, that first one. I need more than a wave. But at least she could think now. A roar from outside reverberated through the hangar. Oh, they are off. Her thoughts wouldn’t quite come together on what to do next.
She looked up to find Gati waiting expectantly in front of her, something held out on the palm of his hand. The Amazons clustered around, peering over each other’s shoulders.
‘Mike sent this. He is sorry he could not give it to you himself.’ The handsome man leaned in close to whisper, ostensibly so that the Amazons could not hear. ‘His words were, ‘Give this to my love, my friend. Take some of the warmth from my hand to hers. Tell her my heart goes with it. Tell her to lay it between her breasts, close to her heart so she will feel me with her always.’
She knew these weren’t Michael’s words but her ears burned anyway. She pretended to glare at Gati as he straightened.
‘That is what he meant, anyway,’ said Gati, tucking in his chin.
Good, thought Aesca. I must be recovering some of my normal manner.
The object was in her hand now, small, only a few centimetres in length, shining silver, intricate strands so tightly twisted as to be near solid.
‘Trahern makes these. Who knows what is going through his mind when he does,’ said La Mar, at her side. ‘But if I was that big marine of yours, I would thump him for this when I got back. Look, it is you.’ Her hand came over to point. ‘There are the curves of your hips and there are your breasts. And here is the small of your back, and over here … ‘
Aesca lifted her hand self-consciously. This was private and special. She didn’t want to share it.
La Mar pinched her bottom and the figurine nearly jumped out of her hand. ‘See where it shines, continued La Mar. ‘Your marine has squeezed it tight, either that or he has been rubbing it. There, and there, he rubs you.’
The others stepped back laughing. Aesca didn’t know if she wanted to be angry or happy. La Mar patted her on the shoulder in commiseration then shifted back to study her.
‘Bethane wears one in her hair that that fool Gati gave her,’ said La Mar as if the two mentioned were not a metre away. ‘Your hair is too short. You will have to fix it to a pin for your shirt, near the collar would be good. If Quartermaine says anything, tell him it is an award for merit, for putting up with idiots.’
The sturdy commander turned away. ‘Gati, tell your comrade again that I want one of these. I will stun him myself if I have to.’ She moved off along the deck, motioning for the others to follow. ‘Come on. We have a mission of our own, you know. Lot of work to do.’ Gati and Bethane drifted together behind her, arm in arm. ‘Bethane,’ La Mar called without looking around. ‘Grab that ugly boy before he disappears. I want him to help us find his commander.’
Aesca watched the laughing group descend the walkways, thankful now that they had been with her. The feeling was strange, she was not usually at ease in the close company of so many people. She had often wondered how the Amazons coped, crushed together as they were. They are no different from marines, she decided. She caught La Mar throwing one last concerned glance back over her shoulder and waved her along.
A quick check of my wards, she decided. Then I will get some sleep. She clutched the figurine tightly. Maybe I can find a chain for this.
CHAPTER 35: AG PLANET
La Mar hit the ground hard but luckily at a low enough angle so that most of the force was transferred into horizontal movement. A roadway, roughly surfaced, she thought as she skittered face down, loose bits of gravel flicking past her faceplate. Friction finally beat momentum to fling her body vertical in time to slam into a barrier. Luck was still with her. Flat, the suit absorbed the force of the collision. Headfirst, her helmet would have shattered. Her knees folded to drape her calves on the top of the wall. Laser blasts knocked them off, dropping her back onto the roadway. Rolling, she unclipped the remains of her rocket pack and kicked it away. Several of the cylinders were intact and if hit again, the pack would go up like a bomb. Tucked into the lee of the wall, she opened her comm. ‘La Mar here. I’ve taken fire. I’m down. Suit’s intact but the rockets are gone.’ She took in her surroundings quickly. Too many buildings for Bethane to bring the lander in. Too risky under fire anyway. Her best chance would be to make her own way back, if she could. She’d been hit from the front and the sides. Hopefully there was nothing behind her. ‘Mostly lasers, don’t know if they are fixed.’ The wall lit up beside her. Damn, so much for my luck, must be all used up. ‘Mobile. The lasers are mobile.’ She was moving as she said this, back to her feet and along the wall as fast as the suit would allow.
Buildings replaced the wall. Laser flashes and projectile ricochets let her know the pursuit was closing. The buildings offered shelter but she would be trapped if she went inside. She stayed in the roadway. It opened out into a plaza she remembered from her survey, paved walkways and ornamental gardens set out in rectangles where three roads met. Too open, but she had no time to detour. She started across.
Her hunters caught her with a vengeance, the sudden intense fire buffeting her suit. She dove behind some statuary. The stone plinth provided cover. Temporary only, they’d soon flank her if she stayed put. Above her, an oversize bronze of a cloaked and wide-hatted man was sternly pointing south. ‘Yes, I am going. As quick as I can,’ she told him. Maybe they won’t want to harm one of their founding fathers. Lasers lit the scene. So much for that hope. The bronze arm slowly sagged until it was pointing her out. She was gone before it fell free.
‘I’m on my way back, as straight as possible,’ she reported. ‘Kee
p to the schedule. Lift before the window closes. Be out of the atmosphere before that satellite comes over. That is an order.’
‘We have you,’ said Bethane’s calm voice in her ear. ‘The two searchers in adjacent sectors are close enough to reach you and get back in time. They are on their way. They’ll have to bring you in on rockets, not enough time to get back on foot.’
I don’t know about that, thought La Mar. I’m running pretty fast. Faster than I ever have before. A blast knocked her off her feet. Lasers painfully stung her eyes through her faceplate as she rolled. Shit! How many of them are there?
She crab-crawled to the side, firing her own lasers in the direction of her pursuers. ‘Projectile weapons also. About twenty – more all the time. Whoever is coming in better hang back to protect their rocket packs. I’ll have to make a break.’
‘I’m behind you, about eighty metres, the far side of the plaza.’
A male voice. Must be Trahern. She bumped a low step and rolled over it into a garden. Tearing through the flowers, she crawled south, throwing the soft dirt and compost onto her back. Fires flared around her as the decorative plants were mowed down. From the heat she could tell that the lasers had ablated most of the protective layers of her suit. It wouldn’t take much more. She slipped out of the garden, back onto the paved surface of the plaza.
‘Sixty metres now,’ said Trahern. ‘No real cover. You will have to make a break for it under my fire.’
‘It will have to be soon,’ said another voice. ‘The roadway to the north is full of armoured carriers, all coming this way. Shit, La Mar. What did you do to stir this up?’
Rhone, Rhone and Trahern. I couldn’t ask for better help. Maybe my luck is back, thought La Mar.
‘I’m at the south-east corner, on the roof of a single story building. I have you maybe one hundred twenty metres,’ said Rhone.
‘There are more coming in from the west side of the plaza.’ Trahern’s words were urgent. ‘It will have to be now, La Mar. GO!’
She was on her feet and running. Sharp concussions sounded from the buildings and roadway beyond her. Mag pen, she recognised. Trahern must have one built into his suit. He was using it to blast shrapnel into the faces of her hunters, trying to get their heads down. There were too many. Lasers battered her and a heavy projectile knocked her off her feet. Back up, she only made a few metres before she was hit again. Next time up, the projectile weapon was silent. Trahern must have targeted it.
They were supposed to be unarmed for these inspections. She had cheated, slipping a pair of lasers into her suit. She hoped Rhone had something. A mag cannon would be nice. That thought ended in pain as she was lifted into the air. The filters in her faceplate came down automatically and the scene around her went dark. And silent. She bounced off the ground but heard nothing. Lasers flashed all about her and fragments of stone rained off her suit. No sound. She tried to rise but in this eerie silent twilight world her body wouldn’t work. She continued to struggle, will alone demanding she die on her feet, facing her enemy.
CHAPTER 36: THE LANDER
The controls vibrated with the power Bethane had run up. Full power. Only the flick of a switch needed to shunt it to the engines and blast off.
‘Sian is in!’ Seli called from the head of the ramp.
The last of the searchers, barring the three in trouble. ‘Guards in to the head of the ramp,’ ordered Bethane over the comm. Ten seconds to close the ramp and they could be off. It might come down to that, thought Bethane, reading the screens in front of her. Minutes until the satellite came over the horizon, minutes for La Mar, Rhone and Trahern to get back. It will be down to seconds. ‘Hold on, I’m going to move us.’
She eased power across, lifting clear of the ground. She tickled the fields to bring the lander around to face north then slowly advanced in that direction. The foot of the ramp clipped a row of bushes at the edge of the airfield. She kept going, right up to the fences, pushing these over in turn before she set down. There, bought more than a few seconds with that, maybe a minute. It brought them close to the buildings. A risk she was prepared to take. If there were any traps, they would be out on the field near the pads.
Traps. I thought we had prepared for all possibilities. Quartermaine had warned La Mar that this could be a trap. ‘The Amazons are the best in suits and this will be suit work. Others would know this and how my mind works. It could be an attempt to get rid of the Amazons, or to compromise them and embarrass Base. Be on guard. Look for the touch of the Houses. It won’t only be farmers you face.’
This was the eleventh planet they had investigated. The Ag Sector was rich in planets, seventeen spread between five suns, nine habitable, which was way up against the odds. Poor in metals, but water and carbon rich, they had been settled by fundamentalists seeking an agrarian life. Over time, they had become the breadbasket of the Arm. Mechanised and automated with the help of the Trading Houses, they were now, again with the assistance of the Houses, exporting to the wider universe.
It did not surprise Bethane that there was trouble here. What do you ask for when your god has rewarded you with a bountiful life? Why, more bounty, of course.
And what could the Houses offer in excess of riches? The trader’s age-old answer was drugs or weapons. The fundamentalists’ beliefs kept them armoured against hedonism, so arms it would be. The sin of coveting could be erased by possession. Bethane knew how these people thought. She had been raised among similar folk. Rigid in their righteousness, unable to change, temptation had to be removed. What could not be shared or possessed had to be destroyed. The scars on her face were testament to that.
‘La Mar’s marker is gone!’ called out Dedrin from the side console.
‘What movement on the others?’ asked Bethane.
‘Both have gone forward. North.’
Bethane renewed her calculations. Seventeen minutes and the satellite would be able to target the lander in the atmosphere. That meant they had to lift within eleven minutes. Once in space, she could use the lander’s speed and manoeuvrability to get clear. Any last doubts about whether the satellite was military or not were now gone. If they have lasers on the ground, they will have worse in that big bastard.
La Mar had picked it. Too big and with too much energy equipment to be the simple weather satellite the planetary functionaries claimed. Shielded also. ‘To last in our skies forever’ had been the explanation. La Mar and Trahern planned around it, restricting surface investigations to times and areas shielded by the planet. Drop the lander down quickly, twelve suited personnel out on compass bearings to a distance related to the time available, loop back in covering a twenty to thirty degree arc, collect data only, no interaction with the inhabitants, pack up and be out of the atmosphere before the satellite came over the horizon. Leave confrontation to the politicians. In the air, skimming the ground or low over the buildings, the searchers would be safe from containment. The suits would protect them from more violent reactions.
Leaving the surface between surveys made the work slow. They did not have the time to cover the whole planet. La Mar had cut the search back to zones around landing pads and wide clear surfaced areas that could be used for that purpose, figuring that if there were prohibited armaments, they had to be lifted into space before they could be used to threaten other planets.
She must have found something to trigger this response, thought Bethane. Unless it was a trap all along. ‘Positions?’ she asked.
‘Holding,’ replied Dedrin.
Bethane flicked the comm open. ‘We are running out of time. Start your return on my count. That is an order. Twenty … nineteen.’
CHAPTER 37: THE PLAZA
She’s not going to make it, thought Trahern. Despite Rhone’s and his cover fire, the attack on the shambling figure was intense. La Mar was down, up, down again. He shifted his aim to take out a tripod-mounted heavy rifle. La Mar made a few more metres before a powerful detonation threw her in the air. Only forty metres now.
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He rose and went forward at a half run. The enemy continued to target La Mar’s supine form. Their bloodlust is up. It made his advance easier.
Bethane’s command came through his comm. Good. She is battle disciplined. She won’t let the lander be trapped.
‘Seventeen… sixteen,’
There was still a chance to get La Mar back. ‘Rhone, come in behind me on rockets and lift her out when I draw their fire.’ Once past La Mar, he could kick in his other mag arm. With the increased firepower, he would be able to make his way forward into their mass. Firing on him, they would be firing on each other. That should break the Amazons free.
‘Amazons don’t come in behind anyone,’ shouted Rhone through the comm.
‘Twelve … eleven,’ continued Bethane’s calm voice.
La Mar had somehow made it to her knees. Her suit was shattered, part of her helm missing. He dove, taking her down. The burst of fire her struggle had attracted hit his back then eased. He rolled his head, following the lasers and tracers. Rhone was up above them, so tempting a target in the open sky that she had drawn almost all the encompassing fire. With mag pen weapons on both suit arms firing, and with under slung lasers blazing, she went forward like an avenging angel.
‘Nine… eight.’
Trahern came up running with La Mar over his shoulder. When their escape drew fire, he swung her down into his arms across his chest. Her suit was too far gone to offer protection.
‘Two … one. Return now on full power or disengage and go to ground,’ Bethane ordered over the comm.
Trahern dove into the shelter of a wall at the edge of the plaza. He heard La Mar’s suit crack as they hit the ground. He released her to crawl to his rocket pack. Flashes in the sky told him Rhone fought on. He returned to La Mar’s still form and slid one arm around her back, hugging her to him. The other was at his belt on the controls. ‘We’re clear,’ he said into his comm as they shot off, La Mar’s suit heels bouncing off the paving. He did not hear from Rhone and he did not look back.
The Return of the Grey Page 25
