Blood World (Undying Mercenaries Series Book 8)

by B. V. Larson

  That worked. She came after me and touched my elbow.

  “I wasn’t finished,” she said.

  My instinct was to shake her off—but I didn’t. I turned to face her.

  “Look,” I said, “I don’t want to talk anything out. We’ve both died several times—maybe fifty times in my case—since those days. We’re not the same people—literally. But if you can’t put all that behind you, I understand.”

  She stared at me. “Are you honestly interested in me? That way?”

  “Uh… why else would I have asked you out?”

  She laughed then. “I know I’m going to regret this. I totally know it in my bones—but sure. Yes… I’ll have dinner with you, Centurion.”

  “James.”

  “What?”

  “Call me James.”

  “Oh… okay. James.”

  That was it. We smiled. The expression was a real one. I could tell she was still a little bemused, but I didn’t care, and she seemed to have decided it was worth having a go at it.

  We agreed to meet when our shifts ended, and we parted ways again. This time, when I craned my head around to look at her butt, I had to admit, it wasn’t half bad. Small, sure—everything about Specialist Thompson was small—but she was shapely enough. She was sort of the physical opposite of Kivi, for example. That didn’t bother me at all. I liked variety.

  Even the fact that we’d been such enemies for so many years left me curious. Maybe that was the real flaw in my mental make-up. I seemed to be attracted to women that wanted to kill me—or who’d actually done so at one time or another.

  I shuddered to think what kind of a twisted, squiggly line that must look like on my psych charts.

  -29-

  Back in Engineering a few minutes later, I dug into the damage reports. The clean-up efforts hadn’t gone smoothly, due for the most part to the damaged cooling system. The repairs had turned into a crash effort to keep the core from melting down, and in the end, it had been a close thing.

  The techs had worked hard together to come up with a solution. They’d managed to bleed off the excess heat. Floramel was credited with the initial idea, but Natasha headed up the implementation. I suspected Floramel wanted nothing to do with the mess in Engineering. She stayed in her labs instead, doling out advice. I hoped she wasn’t too angry with me for killing so many of her gremlins today.

  Natasha had made the hard choices in the end. She’d risked everything to save the ship.

  To start off with, she’d exposed the core to space. As we were a good lightyear from any star, the exterior temperature was in the neighborhood of negative two hundred fifty degrees Celsius. That was pretty cold, almost as cold as you could get.

  Exposing the core released a lot of dangerous radiation, but there wasn’t much around Nostrum to get contaminated. After that step, they simply refilled the cooling jacket and got it all circulating again.

  Sure, there were still leaks, but most were patched by now. The passages were steamy, like a sauna, as the water in the cooling jacket was pretty damned hot. Walking around Engineering was going to be difficult for quite some time.

  But I didn’t care about all that. Everyone who’d been muttering about court martialing or even perming me had finally fallen silent. By my standards, that made the entire mission a resounding success.

  Marching back to the aft machine shop, I surveyed the damage and whistled. Floramel was there, and she looked at me oddly.

  Right off, I figured she might have heard about me making a pass at Thompson. I decided to play dumb and smile a lot.

  “Floramel!” I boomed, walking her way. “We did it! No, you did it! I left this place such a mess, I didn’t think we’d ever survive.”

  “You can stop that, James,” she said.

  My heart sank. Somehow, someway, somebody had told her about Thompson. It just wasn’t fair. Every woman in the Legion seemed to be in a private chat channel about my efforts to find a date. Often, before I could do so much as buy flowers, the new girl had been warned off.

  None of my true worries showed on my face, of course. Instead, my mouth sagged and my eyes went big and glassy. I did my damnedest to resemble a moron.

  “Uh… stop what?”

  “The act. The pretense that we’ve beaten back a vicious assault. That we’ve won the day and should be in a celebratory mood.”

  Now, she really was starting to confuse me. She seemed to be talking about the battle. What did that have to do with anything?

  “We did win—didn’t we?”

  “No, we didn’t. Oh, we’ve slain our opponents all right—but it’s Earth that was the aggressor. It’s Earth that was treacherous.”

  She sniffled and put her hand up to her face. I couldn’t believe it. Was she really so in love with these nasty little gremlins that she’d rather have seen us all permed than to see me drive them off the ship?

  “Listen, Floramel, I know you liked those little guys. They sort of worshiped you. But on some level, you must know that they would have killed us all if they could have.”

  She shook her head and wiped her eyes. “I would have believed that if I hadn’t found evidence of Earth’s real plans. But they have been revealed to me—like I said, you don’t have to keep pretending on my account.”

  “Uh…”

  “In fact,” she said, her mood shifting again. She became increasingly angry. “It’s rude. It’s border-line cruelty. These creatures came out here to defend their world. They were permed, one and all, and they didn’t even manage to stop us. Don’t you think a tiny modicum of respect is due, James?”

  This time my dumbass look didn’t have to be faked. I was totally baffled.

  “Listen girl, I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about. I really don’t. If you want sympathy, you’re going to have to explain what you found better than that.”

  “The charade continues, and I’m forced to play my part. Fine. Look there—behind those lockers. What was set up in that spot? What did the gremlins work so hard to stop from being finished and aligned?”

  Curious, I walked in the indicated direction. At first, I saw nothing except a row of work benches covered in broken gear.

  But then I saw what she was talking about. Two vertical poles had been placed about a meter apart.

  I knew instantly what they were. I hadn’t seen the like since Rogue World—but it would be hard to forget.

  “This is one half of a jump-gate,” I said, staring. “I can’t believe it… Were they setting up to invade our ship?”

  “No, of course not! Don’t you see?”

  She walked over, touched one of the poles, and I saw it glow in response. “These are from Rogue World. They even have our original lot numbers on them.”

  “You built these? Did the squids take them out here and give them to the Blood Worlders?”

  She looked at me in bemusement. “Are you having me on? Seriously?”

  “Um...”

  “Well, let me explain things to you, Centurion. Legion Varus was transporting these to Epsilon Leporis. It was we who were planning to invade and attack them.

  Looking back and forth between the gateway poles, and then at Floramel, I began to understand.

  “We’re going to invade them? I thought this was a diplomatic effort.”

  She laughed with quiet bitterness. She walked close and put her hand on my chest, looking up into my eyes.

  I froze, both confused and surprised. She hadn’t laid a hand on me since we’d left Earth.

  “I’m going to suspend my disbelief,” she said. “You’re an officer, and you led the assault into this very chamber, but still I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt. I’m going to trust you, James, one more time.”

  “Um… okay. Good. Can you tell me what the hell you think is going on? If we’re not on a diplomatic mission, what are we doing out here?”

  “Conquering another planet, of course. The Blood Worlders must have figured it out. They must h
ave decided to strike first, sending an assault ship out here to intercept our approach.”

  “Hmm…” I said, turning over her words in my mind. “Even if this is a set of gateway poles, that’s not enough to take a whole planet. We’ve only got a single legion. Sure, we could teleport down to their planet with suits, I guess, and set these up. But with nothing more than Legion Varus, we couldn’t hope to take out an entire world.”

  Floramel stayed close, and her hands hadn’t left my chest yet. I didn’t feel any urge to push her away, so I let her explain herself at close range, so to speak.

  “You’re not quite getting it,” she said. “I’ve only found two poles. Enough for one half of the gateway. The other two, I suspect, are back on Earth. Or some other planet full of troops.”

  My eyes narrowed. “You think we were going to invade them this time? Like they did when they flowed millions of troops into New York Sector some years back?”

  She nodded. “Yes. What else makes sense? Why would the Blood Worlders come out here otherwise? Why would they attack our ship if this really is a diplomatic mission?”

  “Hmm…” I said thinking hard. “Either they learned what we’re really doing recently, or they knew it all along. Either way, Deech has been lying to us.”

  “That’s definitely true. Do you feel bad, now?”

  She looked up at me, searching my eyes. I didn’t understand the question, but I knew she was very interested in the answer.

  “Uh… yeah,” I said, figuring that was the right response. “I sure do.”

  “Good,” she said with relief. “There’s hope for you and your bloodthirsty people yet.”

  Still clueless as to what I was supposed to be feeling bad about, I shaped up a concerned frown for her, and I kept my mouth shut. I just stared at the gateway poles, hoping she’d explain what she was thinking. That worked with most girls when this sort of thing happened.

  “We need to talk to Deech,” she said suddenly, decisively. “It’s not fair what Earth’s doing. It’s not fair to you or your troops. You had no idea of the wrong you were about to commit.”

  I was pretty sure after this statement that she wanted me to feel bad about tricking the Blood Worlders.

  Now, I definitely could have confessed. A better man would have done so. I could have told her I didn’t give a tin credit piece what the Blood Worlders thought of me. I didn’t even care if we were really going out there to conquer them.

  But I knew Floramel really liked these little gremlin bastards. She was like a cat-lady, and when you’re dating a cat-lady, you’d better pretend you like irritating fuzz-balls.

  Right about then, it struck me that I’d just set up a date with Specialist Thompson. What crappy timing! Here I had Floramel in my arms for the first time in a month, and sure enough, it was only minutes after I’d made headway in an entirely different direction.

  Sometimes, life was anything but fair.

  -30-

  One thing Floramel had said did stick with me—that we needed to talk to Tribune Deech.

  That was a good idea, except for one element: the part where Floramel did the talking. As usual, I decided to take the easiest course of action, and I pulled rank.

  “I’ll go talk to Deech,” I said.

  “But I’m the one who found the gateway.”

  “Do you think she knows that it was down here? Or do you think it was smuggled aboard by the crew?”

  She made a snorting sound. She was picking up more Earther mannerisms by the day.

  “Of course she knew.”

  “All right then,” I said. “I’m an officer. She barely likes to talk to centurions, but I can probably get her attention. I’ll go up there to Gold Deck, deliver my after-action report in person, and ask her about this.”

  Floramel looked slightly confused, but she let it pass. She wasn’t as suspicious of my every intention as most girls in the legion were. For that, I was grateful.

  “All right,” she said, “if you think it will be better that way.”

  “I do. Secure Engineering and repair the drive as soon as you can. I’ll go report upstairs.”

  I turned to go, but she pulled me back around. She searched my face, and I almost got nervous again. You never knew what a woman might detect in your face. They were like bloodhounds on a scent-trail when it came to reading expressions. I, on the other hand, barely knew what they were thinking until they started crying or something.

  “James,” she said. “You’re not having an affair with Deech, are you?”

  “Ha!” I boomed. “As-if! That old battle axe holds no appeal for me. You can take that to the bank.”

  “Okay,” she said. “I’m sorry. It’s just… I’ve heard things about you, and your superior officers.”

  “Oh…”

  She had to be talking about Imperator Turov. Dammit, girls sure did like to talk.

  “Don’t worry,” I said. “As God is my witness, I’ve never touched Deech, and she hasn’t shown the slightest interest in me. When she thinks of me at all, she seems to want to kick me in the ass.”

  “Okay. Sorry.”

  “No problem. I’ll be in touch.”

  Hurrying out of there, my mind was whirling all the way up to Gold Deck. Twice along the way Graves tried to contact me, but as the messages weren’t marked urgent, I ignored them.

  But it was when I set foot in the repaired tube leading up to Gold Deck that my tapper went red. I looked at it, figuring it was Graves again, but it wasn’t. It was Winslade.

  Reluctantly, I opened a channel.

  “Primus?” I said, “What’s up? Is this tube not working?”

  Absently, I hammered on the elevator’s touchscreen. It didn’t do anything but blink. I wasn’t making any progress up to Gold Deck at all.

  “McGill? Are you finally in the mood to answer your messages?”

  “I guess so. Remember, I’ve been in Engineering. Those gremlins set up scramblers down there.”

  “Really? That’s the excuse you’re going with?”

  Getting annoyed, I hammered on the tube walls. Nothing responded.

  “Are you blocking me at the tubes?”

  “Ah! The light goes on at last. Before you’re allowed to irritate your superiors, I want to know what this interruption is about.”

  He had me pissed off now. That was a bad place to be if you were a skinny weasel of a man like Winslade.

  Fuming, I marched out of the tubes and headed to the stairs. As far as I knew, they still worked.

  Taking six at a time, I sprang lightly up the steps. My exoskeletal suit did most of the work, if the truth were to be told.

  “Well sir,” I said in a voice that hid my true mood, “I’m under orders to deliver my after-action report to Tribune Deech.”

  “No, you’re not. You’re supposed to deliver it to Graves. He’s your direct supervisor, and he will then submit it to me. After that, if it’s deemed readable and requires no further editing, it will eventually make its way to the tribune. It’s called a chain-of-command, McGill. You should look it up sometime.”

  “I’ll do that, sir,” I said, trying not to puff. I was almost there. “Now, can I please take the tube to Gold Deck?”

  “No,” he said. “You cannot. Did you somehow miss the import of my previous statements? Submit your report, in writing, to Graves. Winslade out.”

  “That prick,” I said, huffing a bit.

  I knew I had to hurry, as at any moment he might do a trace on me and discover I’d almost reached Gold Deck.

  Straight-arming the doors at the top of the stairs, I was greeted by two guards with their weapons raised.

  “Halt! Who goes—? McGill…?”

  They shook their heads and lowered their weapons.

  “Sorry to give you a heart attack, boys,” I said. “There’s something wrong with the tube.”

  “Winslade is what’s wrong with it,” one of them said. “Unless you’re a Primus or a visiting hog, he’s decided t
o keep you off Gold Deck. I’m not even sure if—”

  “Tribune’s orders,” I said, flashing them a glimpse of my red, blinking tapper.

  It was either Graves or Winslade messaging me, not Deech, but that wasn’t immediately obvious, and I barely cared who it was anyway.

  The noncoms waved me by, and I strode down the central passage like I owned it.

  It was close in the end. I was maybe ten meters from Deech’s big shiny door when Winslade’s office popped open to my left.

  I could tell he was ready to pitch a hissy-fit.

  “McGill!”

  My feet kept walking. I was maybe fifty steps from my goal.

  “McGill, damn you man! I’ll have you up on charges!”

  Five more paces, and I turned my head. My face registered mild surprise. “Oh, there you are, Primus. Sorry to bother you, sir.”

  “Stop right there! Get away from the Tribune’s door! I demand it!”

  Twenty steps to go.

  An idiot’s grin now graced my face. Slowly, I let it turn into a confused dumbass frown. My pace slowed down, and I half turned toward him—but I kept walking.

  He was hurrying to catch up to me. I could tell he was beyond pissed, but he was under the misconception that he’d finally got me under control. A man who knew me better, like Graves, could’ve straightened him out on that point.

  “Sir?” I asked in a confused tone. “What’s the problem?”

  I was now turned around, fully facing him, but I managed two more steps backward.

  “You,” he said, coming close and breathing hard. “I should have you arrested. You disobeyed a direct order from a superior. Really, I don’t understand—are you walking backwards?”

  He’d finally noticed. There were less than six paces between me and that door, but Winslade was really on top of me now. He was in my face and then some.

  One of the many keys to thwarting authority was to give the appearance of utter compliance, even while you kept doing your own thing. Usually, this meant your progress was slowed, but never quite completely halted.