"Would it be worth your arms for so much as taking another step closer, fish?" Monster growled.
"Just stay back, S'bal," Vic said.
"In addition to your standard expedition equipment, I picked up some new toys at the last station, so this is a good time to try them out." He removed two small cases and passed them to Frank and the captain. "We're going with seeker radios, obviously." Vic opened his case to see two small black pieces of rubber, shaped to fit perfectly into the ear canal. "Now, it's going to be tricky because they're calibrated to track the singular voice of one individual. I've never tried it with a Cryndian before. Here, hold up the radios to his neck. S'bal, say something."
The fish played with the earrings dangling from his mouths in thought for a moment, then leaned his mouths closer to the radios and said, "It's a shame the Mantipor didn't ask me what I'd been doing with that arm right before he tore it off. I hope he likes the taste of my rear end."
Buehl frowned, "His jewelry is interfering with the signal. Take them off."
"No way. Do you know how strange that would look? That would raise all kinds of red flags."
"Can you make it work anyway, Bob?" Vic said.
"Maybe if I was down there," Buehl said dryly.
Vic patted him on the shoulder and said, "Just do the best you can. What else?"
He removed a necklace with a small metal crucifix and said, "S'bal, put this on. It's a tracker and I'll be able to follow your signature from wherever you are."
S'bal looked at the crudely-shaped ornament and said, "What is this? This looks like something my grandmother would wear. Hell no."
"Put it on," Monster said, "Or I'll make you swallow it."
S'bal's mouth twisted in mute anger but he put the necklace on and looked away, like he could not bear such an insult. Buehl checked the necklace's transmitter and said, "The signal is excellent, but of course, he's standing right next to us. What that will be down on the planet, I'm not sure."
"We get it," Frank said. "All this would work better if you were just down there with us. Can we move on?"
Buehl grabbed a compact assault weapon off the rack and moved to hand it to Frank, instead shoving the frame sideways into Frank's chest, nearly doubling him over. "Here's your gun, Frank."
"Thanks," Frank whispered. He coughed and looked down at the weapon, a black Rangefinder with collapsible stock and three settings for semi-auto, full-auto, and OMFG. "What's OMFG?"
"Let's say you wind up trapped in the basement of a twelve-story building and have no escape route. A hundred enemies are coming down the stairs ready to skin you alive and do all sorts of unspeakable things to your corpse. You can't fight them all, so your only option is to bring the whole damn building down on top of them. OMFG," Buehl said.
"I'll keep that in mind."
Buehl reached for another compact, but Vic stopped him and said, "Not that one. I need something quiet."
Buehl scanned the rest of the weapons and said, "Here you go." He removed a sleek pistol with an extended barrel and handed it to Vic. "Feel how light that is? It doesn't fire bullets. It's magnetic, good for a range of up to fifty feet. Completely silent. You fire that at somebody there won't be any bang, just a hole through your target that nobody can explain."
"What about me?" S'bal said. "What do I get?"
"Here pick something out, anything you want," Buehl said.
"Seriously?"
"No, not seriously, dummy. You don't get a damn thing."
"You people suck," S'bal said.
Buehl moved over to the next door and looked over the shelves, "Do you want any C-32?"
"No," Vic said. "We're doing this as quiet as we can. No explosions."
"All right. Take these, though." He scooped up a handful of shiny, grey marbles in one hand and yellow-green ones in the other. "The grey ones are smoke. If something goes wrong, get out into an open area and drop them all around you. I'll still be able to find you with our sensors and be able to scoop you up."
S'bal snorted in derision, "Smoke bombs? Do you know cheap it is to get smoke filters uploaded to sunglasses?"
"Not these," Buehl said. "These have a specific spectrometer frequency that not only−"
"Hey," Vic said. "He doesn't need to know what he doesn't need to know."
Frank looked down at the yellow-green ones and sniffed them, rearing back in disgust, "What are these?"
"Vomit bombs. Chuck them into a crowd and people will start getting sick all over the place. Best way to disperse a group is to get people projectile vomiting at them."
"You're a sick man, Bob," Vic said. "That must be why you're my favorite. So we're good to go?"
"No," Monster said. He reached past Buehl's head and collected two knives sheathed in square metal casings. "You said this was a stealth mission. Since the dawn of time nothing has been a quieter way of dispatching enemies than the blade." He drew one of the knives and showed them how it began to hum with life and vibrate softly. "That knife can cut through six inches of tank armor."
"Good. I was wondering how we were going to deal with all the tanks down there," Frank said. "Thank God I've got this pocket knife."
Vic took his knife and clipped it to his belt with a slight smile. He looked back at S'bal and said, "You ever made a Baumgartner Jump before?"
The fish's lips curled in hesitation, "What's that?"
Buehl removed three air masks from the closet and three loose body suits made of shining black plastic. "We'll descend to about twenty-five miles over Khor-Wa's surface so you guys can drop down and parachute in."
S'bal snickered as the air mask was dangled in front of him, preferring not to participate in the men's joke. When the other two strapped their masks on, he stepped back and said, "Wait, are you crazy bastards serious?"
Chapter 3: Previous Intel
It started with a distress call two months prior.
Vic was in his quarters, sleeping fitfully. In space flight there is no day or night, just the hum of the engines and the dark emptiness just beyond his cabin window. He found that he slept more when he was aboard, and hated it. It left him feeling groggy the entire day and often, with a throbbing headache. He wondered if the air on board the ship was too thin, or too thick, and their sensors were just reading it wrong.
The comm on his wall beeped and Buehl said, "Captain, are you awake?"
Vic rolled over and wiped his eyes, squinting in the dim light, "What is it?"
"We're receiving an all-channel distress call from Sector 3, the Cinth-Combs outpost on Gennewolf."
Vic looked around the room, trying to untangle his thoughts from his dreams. They stuck together like cobwebs, even as he shook his head, trying to force himself awake.
"Captain?" Buehl said.
"All hands on deck," Vic finally mumbled.
The ship's alarm sounded and flashed in the hallway as he pulled on his t-shirt and slid into the same pair of pants he'd left lying by the edge of the bed only hours before. He laced up his boots and headed through the door, almost colliding into Frank. "What's going on?" Frank said.
"Time to go to work, I guess."
"Good. All this peace and quiet was making me nuts."
Monster was already sitting in his chair, manning the communications systems. "What's the problem?" Vic said.
"It's unclear. The signal's being broadcast by multiple areas on the outpost. Whatever it is, it's chaotic at the moment."
"See if you can patch us through."
Monster typed several commands into his computer, announcing, "Cinth-Combs Tower, this is Unification vessel Samsara, responding to your signal. Confirm." He repeated the announcement several times, until he finally said, "Nothing."
Vic rubbed his chin, feeling the stubble there with his thumb. "Screw it. Take us in."
Buehl shot a look over his shoulder, "And if they fire on us for breeching their airspace without clearance to land?"
Vic shrugged, "Then I'm buying the first round when we get
to hell. Just get us down before they have a chance. Let's go."
Monster let out a sharp laugh and Frank braced himself against the cockpit's wall, intertwining his arms around the tethering straps. The Samsara dropped into the planet's atmosphere, rocketing down through the upper limits of the skyline until they were zipping through clouds and could see the massive base beneath them.
The computer's alarm sounded and Buehl sighed, "They're locking missiles on us."
Vic picked up Monster's microphone and said, "This is Captain Cojo of Unification vessel Samsara, responding to an emergency distress call from your location. Stand down your weapons, I repeat, stand down your weapons."
They were left with nothing but the beeping alarm for several seconds, until someone finally said, "Stand by for verification." The beeping stopped and the voice said, "Cinth-Combs Tower to Samsara, you are clear to approach."
"What the hell's going on down there?" Vic said. "You people ask for help, then nearly blow us up?"
"We apologize, Captain. Things are tight at the moment."
Vic took a deep breath, "All right, where do you need us?"
The tower said, "Just look for the smoke."
They all looked up through the ship's forward display, seeing holographic readouts of buildings and the wide grid of the outpost's streets. Buehl moved the thermal sensor around the map until he finally said, "I'm reading a large heat signature ten miles southeast." He squinted at the readout, "The acitine metal content of the air is indicative of Kerogel, Captain. It was a bombing."
"Step on it," Vic said. "What's burning?"
Monster's fingers flew over his computer terminal and his voice dropped to a barely audible whisper. "That is the location of the Andoho-Sky Elementary School, Captain."
No one spoke.
Vic finally tapped Buehl on the shoulder and said, "Get us on the ground and get us in the fight, Sergeant."
It was rare for him to refer to any of the men by their rank or formal names. The Grendel Unit was above such things, too loose for such things, too outside of standard operations. This was different and they all knew it. Buehl threw the accelerator forward and said, "Yes, sir. Everybody hang on."
The Samsara cut sideways, cutting between buildings, racing after a long cavalcade of emergency vehicles that painted the sky flashing shades of blue and red. The ship's thermal view showed a large structure just ahead, consumed by flames. Bright, flaring blocks of white filled entire floors, leaving no space for anything that lived. "Holy hell," Frank whispered.
Buehl flipped a switch to reveal the screen's forward camera feed in real time, showing the dozens of fire crews surrounding the building on land and in the air, all of them standing by. "Why aren't they putting it out?" Monster roared.
"You can't," Buehl said. "Kerogel reactivates when you hit it with any kind of flame suppressant. It's like pouring water on a grease fire. They just have to let it burn itself out and pray it doesn't spread."
Monster smashed his fist on the chair's arm, "So they're just going to let the children and teachers burn alive?"
"They're already dead, Big Man. There's no life signs in there," Vic said softly. "Bob, set us down over there, by that parking lot." He bent down to peer through the sideport window and said, "Looks like a large crowd is gathering around the school. Probably parents."
Frank leaned down beside him. "Can you imagine what they're going through? No way are they going to understand why there isn't a rescue effort."
"I wouldn't," Vic said. He wiped his forehead, feeling it was drenched with sweat. "Why the hell did we have to be passing through this sector?" he whispered to himself. He felt the ship touch down and called out, "Tactical vests with Unification ID displayed. Sidearms only, no rifles. Frank, find the medical coordinator and see what's needed. Bob, I want intel about this bombing. Hack every system you can until we get answers. Monster, you're with me."
They exited the Samsara into the fray, acrid, chemical smoke stinging their eyes and throats. Vic waved for Monster to follow him and they hurried around the rear of the crowd to the first command post they saw. Vic held up his badge and identified himself, asking how they could be of assistance.
The Lieutenant manning the post's door said, "Captain, you can come in. I'm sure my Commissioner will want to see you." His eyes looked Monster up and down, "Any chance this one can go help out with crowd control? He might be able to help keep parents from running into the flames."
Monster leapt over the barricade and took off running toward the main entrance, his thick, muscular legs moving faster than seemed possible. Vic moved past the Lieutenant and saluted the group of men huddled at the far end of the trailer; a haggard looking medical Chief, a sweat-soaked Fire Marshal. Seated between them, an old, thin man in a crisp white shirt with gold Commissioner stars lined up along the epaulets. Vic nodded at all of them and said, "Gentlemen, how can I be of assistance?"
The Commissioner looked back at Vic with narrow eyes, his face wan and drawn, the stress mapping every inch of his features. "We appreciate Unification's fast response, Captain." His words were slow and measured, like he scribed them in the air mentally to look at them before speaking. "Once we've regained stability of the scene, any assistance your government can provide in recovery and rebuilding would be most welcome."
"What about the investigation?" Vic said.
The men surrounding the Commissioner glanced at one another, but the old man remained undisturbed. "We have the matter quite well in hand, Captain, thank you. The school's coolant system malfunction that caused the incident has already been neutralized and will be examined by our top men."
"Coolant system malfunction?" Vic said. "That's cute. That's real, real cute." He turned his back to the men and grabbed the command post's door handle and yanked it shut, hard. He looked back at the Commissioner, "Now, how about you tell me why someone used Kerogel to blow up this damn school before I decide you bumbling bastards aren’t capable and have your charter revoked?"
Outside, the crowd at the main gate had grown into a frenzy of screaming people pressed against the barricade, beating their fists on the police officer's riot shields. Monster stood behind the row of cops, feeling the heat of the burning building singe the fur on his back. A man broke through the ranks, pushing his way past the phalanx of officers, crying, "My little boy!"
Monster was on him in seconds, scooping him up in his massive arms and cradling him like a baby. "There's nothing you can do," Monster said softly as he carried the man back to the barricades. "I'm sorry. There's nothing."
The man sobbed and moaned but did not struggle as Monster set him back down. And then, more screams. Panicked ones, different than before. People were crying out in renewed horror and pointing at the building's top floor, until finally the police turned to see what they were looking at and someone shouted, "There's someone up there!"
A little girl appeared at one of the classroom windows her fists banging against the glass. Flames lit up the room behind her and dark smoke poured out of the broken windows and cracked walls beneath her. The policemen squawked into their radios for help, racing around the school's entrance futilely, flapping their arms like panicked ducks. "Do something!" someone cried out.
Monster ripped his tactical vest off and tossed it as he ran, heading directly for the flames. He leapt over the school's entrance and smashed against the wall, burying his hands and feet in the facade, scraping with his claws for purchase. He swung himself up to the next window and lifted, heaving upwards. Fire stung his face as he inhaled the noxious fumes from within, and still he climbed.
The little girl slipped down from the window, falling out of sight except for her right hand which was placed flat against the glass. A final act of desperation. Monster climbed and climbed until he could see her hand close, see that her fingers were twitching. He banged on the window and she looked up, eyes pleading and terrified. Her clothing was on fire, he realized. By the Gods, her clothing is on fire. She grabbed for th
e window's latch and Monster shouted, "No! The air will ignite the room!"
He looked around in panic, mind racing for an answer. The window to the room beneath the girl was already blown out, that room already exposed to oxygen. Monster climbed back down the wall, and swung himself through it, shattering the remnants of the window's frame. The school desks and walls were on fire. He smelled burning meat.
Monster looked up at the ceiling and sucked in as much of the thin air as he could to roar, "Get as close to the window as you can!" He heard things creak above him but could not tell if they were footsteps or beams snapping in half from the fire. He squatted, massive legs coiled like springs, then thrust himself straight into the air, smashing through the ceiling's tiles and the structure of the classroom floor above it. The little girl screamed as he grabbed for her, but he had no time to be gentle. The room was about to explode.
He snatched her away from the window and dropped back down through the hole, now unplugged by his vast form, the fire above sucked in the fresh air and ignited. Monster took two running steps toward the window and leapt, keeping the little girl tight against his chest.
When the Mantipor's eyes fluttered open again, he was flat on his back, staring up at the corrugated tiles of a hospital room ceiling. There were three beds mashed together to hold him, two of them side-by-side and another placed parallel to their lower end for his legs. He groaned and tried to roll over, feeling every muscle of his being ache. He flopped back down on the bed and grunted, "That hurt."
In the corner of the room, Vic Cojo set down his tablet and looked up at Monster. "You done laying around yet?"
"How long?" Monster said.
"A couple days. Here and there. You'd come to, your eyes would wobble, and you'd pass back out. It's a good thing Frank was here. The local doctors didn't know whether to stuff you or skin you for a rug."
The last memory of the burning building and the little girl clinging to his chest as he leapt flashed in his mind, as hot and bright as the flames themselves. He struggled to sit up, "How is she? Where is she?"
Grendel Unit 1: Bad Day at Khor-wa Page 3
