“Huh?”
“You understand, right?” Popov says.
“Publish or perish,” I say. “Yes. You’re only a threat until you publish. While it’s all on you, everyone’s after you.”
“But publish,” he says.
“And the genie’s out of the bottle. The playing field is level.”
“Exactly.”
Lights flash behind us. A siren sounds.
“How long do you need on GalNet?” I ask.
“For a basic paper—couple of paragraphs outlining background, theory, technique, highlighting dead ends, documenting chemical pathways and splicing—an hour or two. It’ll be rushed, but that would give other scientists enough clues. They’d be able to replicate my work and piece together the next steps.”
“Do it,” I say, “We’ll run interference.”
Jessie brings the craft down, swinging around the side of the central library across from the Kremlin, opening both gull wing doors. Popov slips over the side wing, rolling to the ground on the opposite side from the police cruiser tailing us. A Russian police officer walks over. He seems rather casual, but I can see his partner running our plates. Right about now, he’s probably wondering if he’s pulled over the son or brother of an oligarch. He’ll be polite initially, not wanting to ruffle feathers.
“Your papers?”
“Right here,” I say, leaning across in front of Jessie and pulling my pistol from my jacket. I hit him in the chest with the taser and his body shakes. He falls to the pavement convulsing.
Jessie floors the Lamborghini as I buckle in for a rough ride. The police cruiser gives pursuit. Several other cruisers swoop down from the clouds, joining the chase. We lead them away from the library.
“Let’s see what this bad boy can do.”
As we lift into the air, I can’t help but feel both a sense of trepidation and excitement. There’s only one way this can end. It’s going to be ugly—messy—but if we can buy Popov time to get the word out, we’ll get the guild off our back. I’m not sure how many laws we’ve broken, or if we’ll end up rotting in a Russian jail, but the next hour is going to be epic. Knowing how well the skies of Moscow are covered, we’re going to be front page vid for the next day, and that should spread public awareness at least. Who knows, maybe we’ll shake them. Not likely, but sure beats running like a dog with its tail between its legs. Yeah, Jessie and I are just like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
“Yeeehaw!” Jessie yells, pushing the flyer into a barrel roll as he races headlong through the air corridor.
# # # # #
WHERE ENEMIES SIT by Rob Howell
“This beast and his assassins slaughtered an entire colony of Sidar! Why haven’t they been executed yet?” The voice screeched like a hawk celebrating its catch, the cry echoing in the empty hall appropriated for the tribunal. The speaker stretched his wings over me.
I grinned back at his attempt to intimidate me. After all, he was right. My platoon had murdered scores of his race on a little moon in a boring system. What was one more? At least this time, I’d have good cause. Besides…
“By Ch’kal’a’s blue bile, close those wings.” Still glaring at me, the Sidar folded himself so I could see the Cochkala Peacemaker adjudicating our tribunal flipping his prehensile tail irritably at us.
“And you.” The giant badger-like creature pointed his tail at me. “If I understand the mannerisms of your species aright, you bare your teeth when you find something humorous. Despite Anathiola’s rudeness, his question is pertinent. We see no reason for humor when innocents are murdered.”
“That’s certainly one reason we bare our teeth, Peacemaker. We also do so when we despise someone.”
“And you despise Anathiola?”
“I’ve not yet met a Sidar worthy of anything but.”
“Is that why you killed them?”
“No, but it sure made it easier.”
Anathiola started to open his wings again but the enforcer flicked his tail at him dismissively, and I started laughing.
“Enough.” The Peacemaker pointed at me again. “You are Lieutenant Frasier MacKenzie of the human mercenary company Queen Elizabeth’s Own Foresters?”
“Yes.”
“And you were in command of the unit employed by the Karalukluk Mining Consortium at Cimaron-283133-6A during the time in question?”
“I was.” I grinned at Anathiola, showing every tooth I could.
The Peacemaker snapped his tail at me. “Do you not take these proceedings seriously? It is within my power to eliminate you and all of your soldiers.”
“Might as well. There aren’t many of them now, anyway. Besides, as I understand it, that’s what you’re going to do no matter what I say.”
“Lieutenant,” he snapped.
“Yes, Peacemaker, I take these proceedings with all the seriousness they deserve.”
He regarded me for a moment, tail circling occasionally. Finally, he turned to the last creature in the room. “Kukuluki, do you have something to add to your hireling’s rudeness?”
The Zuparti’s eyes shifted from the badger to me and back. “We-we-we did not order this to happen, no we d-didn’t, and we think a c-c-close look at the sensor logs would show that my, yes m-my company is blameless. Blameless. Blameless.”
Kukuluki looked like a giant, overfed weasel, just like every other corporate lawyer I’d ever met, only here the likeness wasn’t simply metaphorical. The race’s chittering, stuttering speech pattern had seemed merely odd when I first arrived on station, but after several months, it grated on my nerves.
The Cochkala seemed to share my annoyance at the Zuparti. “Your people are often blameless in their own mind, Kukuluki. Yet your mercenaries murdered a colony of Sidar. Does anyone dispute that fact?”
The Zuparti did his weird hind paw twitch, like a cat covering its shit, which the species used instead of shaking its head. I glanced at my hands, which had never actually touched Sidar blood. CASPer gauntlets were easily cleaned, after all.
* * *
I jumped past the forklift as far as my CASPer would allow. As I flew across the garage, I rolled three light grenades towards the line firing at us. We avoided using the heavier K bombs on our CASPers when we could if civilians might be around. Even though the Zuul would easily withstand the small explosions, as would the Sidar in mining suits, it would make them all turn away long enough for me to reach my desired firing point among the far line of mining vehicles.
The plan worked to perfection, at least in the sense I achieved my goal. Some Sidar might have had a different opinion, however. I hadn’t realized that they weren’t all in mining suits. Part of a wing, smaller than normal, landed in front of my new position and splattered my gauntlet with blood spray. I ignored it and sent a burst of three rounds back at the line.
* * *
“Lieutenant, I asked if you disputed the fact.” The tail of the Cochkala stretched like a spear at me.
I looked up. “Not at all, Peacemaker. By the end of that day, the remains of my platoon and a few Zuparti were the only ones living on Cimaron-283133-6A.”
“See, even this beast admits he’s guilty! As precedent dictates, you should summarily bestow clear title to the moon to the Sidar and assess a fine to the KMC.” The Sidar tried to loom again, but the Cochkala would have none of it.
“Anathiola, sit down! I will not ask again.”
The wings folded, and the Sidar leaned back.
“What would you have me do with the humans, Anathiola? If I decide to do what you ask, surely they deserve some punishment as well.”
Anathiola’s wings twitched, but he controlled the motion. “Punishment, Peacemaker? How can you punish them? They should be eliminated. As should all mercenaries who become murderers.”
“As you say.” The Cochkala’s tail flitted in a circle. “This is foolish. Anathiola and Kukuluki, leave us. I want to hear the Lieutenant’s version of the events without your interruptions.”
“I said, ‘be silent.’ I’ve heard nothing but your complaints as we traveled here to resolve this. From both you and Kukuluki. I will make sure this situation is resolved peacefully. If I do not hear the human’s version—without interruption—the most peaceful result might be to drop all of you into one of this system’s stars.”
Grumbling, the Sidar and Zuparti left, leaving the two of us alone in the cavernous amphitheater. The Cochkala regarded me.
“Lieutenant. Why did you kill the Sidar?”
“You really don’t want to know.”
“No?” His tail stopped at a cocked angle. “And why not?”
“You just said you want a peaceful resolution. I’d happily get pushed out of an airlock if Anathiola and Kukuluki are in it with me. That’s the closest thing to ‘peaceful’ you’ll find in this clusterfuck.”
“Clusterfuck.” He turned his tail slowly. “If I understand the translation properly, that’s an apt description.”
“As I said, you really don’t want to know.”
He leaned back and rotated his tail for a while. Then the tail drooped. “I am sure you’re right. I do not even want to be here at all.” He smacked his tail solidly against the table. “I should never have let Anathiola talk me into coming.”
“Let me guess, Anathiola convinced you when Kukuluki not only didn’t argue, but instead also pushed for your involvement.”
“How did you know that?”
I took a deep breath. “Just kill us all, including Anathiola and Kukuluki, and be done with it. You’ll be happier in the long run.”
“Ch’kal’a cover me in bile if I don’t agree I would be, but I think I must hear it all.” His tail drooped. “Just tell it to me. All of it.”
* * *
“Uh, lieutenant, there’s something strange going on here.”
Before I could answer the voice on my comm, another voice snarled back, “Sunray Minor to trooper, you better make a proper report, or I’ll do something strange up your ass!”
“Yes, Master Warrant Officer! 31b to Sunray, we have Sidar miners running out of their tunnels.”
“Sunray to 31b, why do you think they are doing that?”
“Not sure, sir.”
“And what are the Zuul doing?”
“The doggies look as confused as—”
The transmission broke off.
“Sunray to 31b, continue report.”
No answer.
“Sunray to Sunray Minor, get all dets CASPered up.”
“Sunray Minor to Sunray, already on it.”
“Good, then get your section out to the mining shafts as soon as your CASPers are fully operational.”
“Roger.”
“Sunray to 31b, continue report!”
A breathless voice came back, “31b to Sunray—” an explosion sounded in the background.
“31b, say again.”
“We’re taking fire. The Zuul have us pinned down.” A CASPer’s 12.7mm gun loosed a three-round burst in the background.
“Sunray to 31b, Sunray Minor is coming with the reaction section.”
“Tell him to fucking hurry.”
That wasn’t necessarily the last thing I would ever say to my Master Warrant Officer, but it was damn close. I turned my attention to the other active det.
“Sunray to 31a, report.”
“31a to Sunray, we’ve got movement down the corridor in our side’s seating area.”
“Are you being attacked?”
“No, sir.”
“What are they doing?”
“Hold one, sir.” After a moment. “They’re setting up a barricade.” The echoes of an explosion sounded along with the report. “They opened fire when we approached.”
“Be prepared to support Sunray Minor with the reaction section, but stay in place until the rest of the platoon is a go.”
“Wilco.”
“Sunray to Sunray Minor, 31a reports the Zuul setting up a barricade in the common area. They’ll support your breakout.”
“Roger, we’re there now.”
I cursed myself. Of course they’re there now. The reaction section needed about 50 seconds to get their CASPers fully live and another 20 or so to reach the pressure door between the Zuparti living quarters and the common areas of the mining station. It’s why we had a reaction section prepped in the first place. Over the months since we arrived here, the Master Warrant Officer had not-so-subtly ensured I created four watches, one active section, one reaction, and two off-duty to serve as a reserve. Now, his tone told me to keep my head in the game.
Which I hadn’t done, as I had yet to reach my own CASPer. Our MK 6s took about five minutes to boot up and complete diagnostics after its wearer suited up. I sprinted down the hall to the armory.
The two off-duty sections waited for their suits to go live. A Coffee Crisp wrapper lay on the floor. Corporal Leeman always had one before suiting up and liked to twist his platoon warrant officer’s tail by just tossing the wrapper onto the ground. He never argued about the extra pushups or miles running with his pack that the habit had earned him over the years. It wasn’t the strangest superstition I’d seen in the regiment.
Even the support section was mostly suited, despite first preparing their other equipment. I hastened to get everything plugged in correctly while listening to the Master WO’s running commentary of the breakout, which he accomplished smoothly.
It must have seemed easy to him, given that Master Warrant Officer Graham Russell had done and seen everything in his decades in uniform. He shouldn’t have been here on Cimaron-283133-6A, but with the whole regiment deployed on various contracts, he needed to be somewhere. He and the colonel surely thought it best that he be with the idiot lieutenant on his first deployment, even if this was only a boring security assignment on a not-terribly-valuable mining moon.
I pondered my options as I waited for my CASPer to boot up. The mining station had three large corridors carved into the rock. Mainpath, the long axis, led down into the mines, where it branched out into a labyrinth of passages that followed veins of platinum, palladium, and rhodium. There were two crosspaths: Nearpath, which was closest to the surface of the moon, and Farpath. The quarters of the races were at the end of these two crosspaths, and the common areas like the shuttle bay, fusion plant, water extraction plant, gymnasium, and storage bunkers lay in the middle ground.
“11a to Sunray, we’re a go.” The two sections rose and moved to the door.
“Reserve sections rally to Zuparti area checkpoint when ready. Support section hold for me.” My first and fourth sections shuffled off in the skating steps of a powered armor in light gravity.
“Sunray Minor to Sunray, checkpoint cleared. On our way to the mining section.”
“Sunray to Sunray Minor, take 31a with you. The reserve sections are up and will be there in a moment.”
“Wilco.”
An eternity later, my HUD showed live, and I led the support section to the checkpoint.
Three wounded troopers met us on the way. Two were ambulatory, and they carried a heavily-damaged CASPer. My medic guided them to the room designated as an infirmary, and the rest of us moved on.
At the checkpoint area, Sections 11 and 41 had moved to cover all the exiting corridors, and the situation was stable. Troopers had shoved three Zuul corpses to the side to clear the way, and the doggies’ copper-based blood left blue trails on the smooth stone. The blue blood seemed especially sticky under my booted feet, which was surely an illusion, but one I felt nonetheless.
* * *
“That was the first time I walked in another creature’s blood, Peacemaker. I knew it would happen sooner rather than later in this trade, but I guess I expected my first blood to be red. Why should the color matter?”
He looked at me for a long moment and then twitched his tail. “Continue.”
* * *
“Sunray to Sunray Minor, report.”
; “Sunray Minor to Sunray, slow going toward the mining section. We’ve found and disabled several booby traps, but we’re proceeding slowly.”
“Roger. I’ve got the other two sections, plus the support sections here at the Zuparti checkpoint. I’ll have the support section get its weapons set up to hold here and take 11 and 41 in a sweep through the common areas.”
“Roger. Will report when we get to the mining area.”
The support section unlimbered the two heavier weapons I’d been assigned by the regiment, a MAC and a 120mm rocket launcher. The sappers armed several claymores and a couple of stunner fields we’d put in place, at the Master Warrant’s direction of course, the first day we were here.
But I realized I’d been an idiot, green, cherry lieutenant again when I saw my long-range comms guy waiting for something to do.
“Sparks, set up a link. Send everything from all the CASPers, both comms and camera. Set up batch bursts to the regiment every minute.”
“That’s a lot of bandwidth, sir. And I can’t guarantee it won’t be intercepted sending bursts at that rate.”
“Yes, but someone’s going to have to clean up this mess, and it sure as hell won’t be a lieutenant. Use the full regimental encryption and do what you can to make it as secure as possible, but let’s make sure the colonel isn’t surprised. I may not know much, but I damn well know he wouldn’t like that.”
“Yes, sir.”
* * *
“Anathiola picked through all of that raw footage for evidence throughout the entire trip.”
“Of course he did. I knew someone would when I figured out what happened to our suits.”
The Cochkala rotated his tail slowly as he pondered my words.
* * *
“Sunray to 11 and 41, we’re going to sweep through the common areas. Section 11 down Nearpath. 11a, you get close to Mainpath and set up a covering position to keep anyone from going in and out of the shuttle bay. 11b, you sweep in this order the fusion plant, water plant, and the refined ore bunkers. 41a, get out in Farpath and cover all the doors. 41b, when 41a has coverage, hustle down to Mainpath and make sure the Master Warrant Officer has a clear path to retreat. 11 and 41, Contingency Plan Gamma. I say again, Gamma.”
For a Few Credits More: More Stories from the Four Horsemen Universe (The Revelations Cycle Book 7) Page 4
