by Andria Stone
“That’s Doctor Warren, to you, Oliva.” He pushed her buttons, not giving her the opportunity to do it first. He had to control the game. She’d try to outmaneuver him. It wouldn’t work. He’d been up against worse and damn near died. No chance it was happening again.
“I am Colonel Rushing to you—”
“No, you’re wrong. I had the title of doctor before the TMD recruited me. I’m still a doctor out of the military, no longer obliged to address you by rank, which you’ll lose the minute this illegal action of yours becomes public.”
Rushing came forward, extending her arm in a menacing gesture. Basic human instinct told Mark to tense, but his muscle memory overrode that reaction, forcing him to roll with whatever came his way.
Her fist connected with his jaw, hard enough to cut the inside of his cheek. Mark tasted salty, copper-tainted blood. He chuckled. “You hit like a girl.”
Rushing struck him again, much harder. He saw it coming. As her second punch connected with his jaw, he shifted his weight, leaning away from the blow so far it caused the chair to fall over. He landed on his shoulder, opening his eyes to a field of bright white stars. With great effort, he remained calm enough to spit out a mouthful of blood and smear the side of his face in it. Might as well look like he’d been in a fight.
The lights came on. They were in a small, bare room, without a single distinguishing characteristic. The same red-haired soldier who’d arrested him, along with one more, hauled him upright and set him in the chair again.
“I’ve been tortured by a crazy woman, and have sparred with Von Radach. There’s nothing you can do to me that even comes close.” He coughed, flecks of blood spattering on her. “Why don’t you tell me what you want?”
Rushing’s left eye twitched. “You’ve ruined my career. Now I will ruin yours.”
“As I heard it, Olivia, you sabotaged yourself. Isn’t that the way it went down?”
“I know you were behind that raid at the Aurora spaceport.”
“Wrong again, Olivia.” Mark flashed her the smile he usually reserved for fellow poker players after he’d won the biggest pot of the evening. “We were in Meridian.”
“No, you weren’t. One of my people saw you.”
“One of your people? Really?” Mark laughed. “From the report, there were only mercenaries, cyborgs, the two Bryant’s, O’Donnell, and you. Which one of those people would be yours?”
Rushing’s narrowed eyes were filled with hatred and black as pitch. If looks could kill, he’d be writhing on the floor, gasping for breath.
“Hell, Olivia, I’m no guiltier of treason than General Dimitrios. You might scrounge up people to say otherwise, or plant some trumped up evidence, but be warned, everyone will undergo a halo interrogation which includes SP-27.”
Rushing took a step closer, harsh lights picking up silver threads in her hair. Deep crow’s feet at her eyes matched the lines around her mouth, which he doubted came from laughing. A streak of his spattered blood crossed her crisp gray uniform from shoulder to hip. She sidestepped, grabbed a stun baton from the unknown soldier’s armor, and swung it at him.
Mark flinched, trying to evade the high voltage shock. His vest saved him from the worst part. Remembering the multiple stun attacks he’d suffered on Luna, Mark yelled, arched his spine, and slumped forward, giving the impression he’d received the baton’s full force.
Exhausted now, Mark’s head hung against his chest. He hoped they’d leave him alone. He couldn’t feel his hands, the numbness spiraling up his arms. What he wouldn’t give for a nice cold beer or a shot of Rayburn’s brandy. A healthy dose of battlefield drugs would be even better.
“Colonel, his whole crew watched us arrest him. One got us on vid, another used her tablet to contact TMD headquarters, or their attorneys. We never made it inside farther than the hatch. An opportunity to plant the data did not present itself, so I dropped it.”
“Patience, Sergeant McCall. Another copy will be delivered within the hour.”
***
Axel ran past Kamryn toward the pilot’s cabin, yelling, “Captain Malone, get this ship off the Space Station!”
Kamryn swore under her breath as she strapped on the seventeenth piece of her combat gear. She and Axel were staying on the station to hunt for Mark. The ship was leaving. For the last hour, Ohashi had broadcast the conversations coming through Mark’s hidden comm while trying to pinpoint his location. But she’d encountered problems, her theory being that Rushing had him squirreled away in a field dampening section on the Red Level near the reactor core or fuel tanks.
Petra rushed in with a packet of meds, her flame-tipped hair in disarray, worry etched on her young face. “Here’s all the painkillers we have left, just in case…”
Kamryn stuffed them in a slot on her vest. “Mark’s still talking, so he’s fine. We’re relying on both of you to guide us to him. Tell Ohashi to ramp up her surveillance system for our ship against any drone attacks and secure the hatch behind us.”
It clanged shut as Kamryn sprinted to catch Axel in the airlock tube. They listened to Ohashi on their comms, moving quickly and quietly while she steered them through back passageways and stairwells, away from the Blue Level docking bays. They descended past the Green Level businesses, the Orange Level housing and habitation, finally drawing their guns when they approached the locked entrance of Red Level, the mechanical and energy section.
Ohashi remotely accessed the codes. As the tumblers clicked, the door opened a crack, and they entered. Both sides of the corridor walls featured wide strips of red paint with arrows pointing to different life support operations. Ohashi’s last position for Mark was 25 feet in front of them.
In stealth mode, Axel moved from door to door, pressing a small pink device the size of Old Earth bubble gum, called a Chewy, to each one. It could detect the sound of a pin dropping, and was synced to his comm. Kamryn stood close, on high alert, a twitchy finger on her trigger, keeping watch for any movement. They peeked around the corner once they reached the T in the hallway, turned left, then backed up the instant they recognized the unmistakable sound of armor.
Having been armored soldiers, they knew the most vulnerable spots were the joints and the seam up the inner thigh. Kamryn crouched low, prepared to trip their victim. Axel braced himself against the wall, ready to strike a silencing blow with his augmented arm.
At the first sign of the gray boot, Kamryn jutted her leg out. The soldier was caught off guard and off balance, stumbled, and put their arms out to break the fall. Axel eliminated that possibility by slamming his arm like a club to the back of their helmet. Kamryn fired a heavy stun at the thigh seam which ran parallel to the femoral artery. The soldier sprawled face down, unconscious, arms outstretched. Axel stepped on the soldier’s spine with his augmented leg, pinning them to the floor. Kamryn scrambled to flip up their helmet’s visor and disconnected the internal comm unit, preventing them from transmitting any messages.
“This isn’t the same one who arrested Mark,” she muttered, looking at the bald woman’s bronze-skinned face.
“There were six.”
“Now there’s five.”
They dragged the woman back to the Sewage Treatment room. Ohashi remotely unlocked the door, and Axel liberated the soldier’s weapons before stuffing her behind a filtration module.
“She’ll be out for at least an hour.” Kamryn pulled the door shut, trying the lever to make sure it locked behind them. “Who’s next?” She grinned at Axel, unable to contain her delight at being on the hunt again. “I’m sorry—about earlier.”
“Me too, you know, on Mars,” Axel said.
“This has been the worst trip. Everyone’s had problems.”
“As soon as we find Mark—”
“We turn and burn straight for Terra.”
Kamryn and Axel exchanged nods of agreement, then rounded the corner to retrace the soldier’s path. Axel resumed listening with the Chewy as Kamryn took up a lookout position. Within
seconds, he gave a thumbs up signal at an unmarked door. He signaled with two fingers for the number of voices, indicating the ranks of colonel and sergeant. Suddenly, he motioned for her to get behind him.
The door scraped open. An armored soldier emerged with her faceplate up. She looked straight at Axel. He punched her through the opening before she could blink and caught her underneath the arms before she fell. Kamryn stuffed a glove in the door to keep it from closing all the way. They hauled her around the corner where she received a heavy dose of stun. Hurrying back to the door, Axel waved for Kamryn to take the left side of the room.
They entered, spraying everything standing with a heavy stun.
Colonel Rushing fell to the floor on Axel’s right. An armored soldier spun toward Kamryn and rushed at her—the redhead who’d arrested Mark. Axel flung himself in front of Kamryn, twisted in midair, reached out with his cyborg arm, and looped it around her neck. He slammed her to the floor while Kamryn delivered another stun to her armor’s thigh seam, then disabled the helmet’s comm unit. “You’re on the wrong side of this fight, bitch,” Kamryn said as she discreetly broke the redhead’s wrist.
They checked Mark. He was barely conscious, bloodied, slumped in a chair, and still cuffed.
Kamryn lifted his face with her gloved hand. “You look pitiful. Smell bad, too, but you’ll feel better soon.” She jabbed a painkiller in his bicep, fished the extra comm unit out of his pocket, and showed it to him before she tucked it in his ear. “We heard everything. Finding you was the problem.”
Mark gave her a lopsided grin. A flicker of light sparked in his eyes.
“How about a week’s stay in a hospital,” Axel said, “with round-the-clock nurses?”
Mark uttered a weak, “Yep.”
After snapping the cuffs in two, Axel pried off each band as if it were made of marshmallows. He bent over, grabbed a couple of Mark’s limbs, and slung him around his shoulders in a fireman’s carry.
“Ohashi, we can’t go back the same way,” Kamryn said, acting as Axel’s rearguard as they fled down the hall in the opposite direction than the one they’d come. “Find us another route back to Blue Level. Have Malone dock to pick us up, then we’re out of here.”
Kamryn called out the door names as they passed while Ohashi routed them up to the docking bays on the far side of the station.
Axel let Mark slide off his shoulders into a sitting position just inside the door to the Blue Level. “Can you walk?”
Mark got to his knees, reached for Axel’s arm, and managed to stand with Kamryn’s help.
“Ohashi,” Axel said, “we’re ready whenever you are.”
Dead air.
“Ohashi?”
“Uh, sir…we can’t dock.”
Chapter 21
“Sir, this is Captain Malone. We’re not being permitted to dock. C'n'C is not giving us an explanation.”
“What the hell?” Axel’s angry voice boomed. “Are you telling me we’re stranded?”
“No, sir, not exactly. I do have a suggestion.”
“It better be a damn good one, Captain.”
“Ohashi has contacted Mr. Rayburn. He’s still docked on Deck 4, Berth B-5, and says you’re welcomed to board his ship. If you give us a few minutes, sir,” Malone said calmly, “we’ll figure out how to transfer you over to this one.”
“Where are you now?”
“Behind Phobos—more or less. We thought it best to keep a low profile.”
“Ohashi,” Axel snapped, “you’d better have some good news for me.”
“Yessir, Rayburn’s ship is out the door and 500 feet ahead on your right. Easy-peasy.”
“I doubt that,” Axel mumbled. “Kamryn, you’re recon. Let me know what’s out there. If it’s clear, we’ll follow you.”
Kamryn wasted no time in slipping out the door, but within moments whispered over her comm, “Oh, balls. Ohashi didn’t say anything about having to pass an MPLE Substation on the way to Rayburn’s ship.”
“Ohashi? Where’s your easy-peasy?”
“But, sir, there’s no Substation on my schematic. They must’ve relocated it.”
Axel studied Mark’s overall appearance. The drugs had worked wonders. He was standing under his own power, and much more alert than when they’d found him, but was still bloodied and bleary-eyed. “Can you walk past an MPLE station without help?”
“I have a busted lip,” Mark said, pointing to his face, “but my legs work fine.”
Axel cracked a smile. “You don’t need a hospital or nurses. You need a shower and a haircut.”
Kamryn cracked opened the door. “Let’s go. Most of the MLPE’s just left. There’s only one in the office, but I spotted surveillance drones, so we’ll have to keep our heads down.”
“Mark’s our distraction. If we say he’s drunk, people won’t think twice.” Axel ducked under Mark’s arm, Kamryn did likewise, and they semi-hauled him into the concourse as if he were a buddy too blitzed to find his way home. Mark hung his head and began humming a smutty tune Axel had learned years ago in TMD Basic Training.
Most people paid no attention to them. The few who did frowned in disapproval, until a stray MPLE officer exited a door, almost colliding with them.
Kamryn glanced up for a moment. “He’s getting married tomorrow. Gotta get him home and sobered up before the ceremony.”
“Ah.” The thin, middle-aged officer rolled his eyes. “Need any help?”
“No, we’ve got it. He’s already puked once. You don’t want to get anywhere near him. Thanks anyway.”
The officer gave them a wide berth, walking away in the opposite direction.
“Ohashi,” Axel muttered, “we’re there. Tell Rayburn to open the hatch.”
They turned right, jogged across the steel grating, squeezed into the airlock tube, and rushed into Rayburn’s familiar ship.
Rayburn beamed at Kamryn. “My dear, so happy to see you again. Hello, Mr. Von Radach. Well, Dr. Warren, you look a bit scrambled, but still standing, I see. Everyone strap in while we disembark. I understand time is of the utmost importance.” He limped to the pilot’s cabin and started whistling something upbeat while tapping on his flight console.
Mark attached his harness, eyeing Axel with suspicion. “How are we supposed to get to our ship?”
“We dock with it and go through the airlock tube.”
“In space?”
Axel turned to Mark. The look on his face bordered on hysteria. “It’s completely safe. People do it all the time.” He added one of Dr. Torance’s favorite lines. “Don’t be a baby.”
“How many times have you done it?”
“Twice,” Axel lied. He’d done it once, but it didn’t sound like a good enough number to convince Mark.
“Fine,” Mark said. “You go. I’ll stay with Rayburn until things calm down, find my own way back to Terra.”
Kamryn sat watching them, remaining oddly quiet.
Mark nodded at her. “Have you?”
“Once,” Kamryn said. “We came under attack. People died.”
Axel was about to ask her about it when he felt the ship change course. Rayburn hollered, “We’ve got company. I don’t think they’re friendlies.”
Axel unleashed his harness and sprinted into the pilot’s cabin to find Rayburn conversing ship-to-ship with Malone. “Captain Malone, what’s happening?”
“Sir, it’s a Martian Military Patrol ship. I detect several in the vicinity, most likely searching for mercenaries trying to avoid the authorities. You’ve already been spotted. Disappearing behind Phobos for the transfer now will only arouse suspicion. Why don’t you choose a nice out-of-the-way spot on the surface? We’ll rendezvous there to pick you up.”
“Can do,” Rayburn said. “Contact you when we touch down.” He glanced at Axel. “I know the perfect location. It’s outside Aurora in an impact crater the MMC doesn’t bother monitoring.”
“What’s our ETA?”
“Not long. Fifteen to
twenty minutes.”
“Good,” Axel said. “The sooner the better.”
***
The Terrans watched from the opening to the pilot’s cabin as Rayburn set his ship down with such skill he barely disturbed the ground’s dusty surface. Mark went to clean the blood off his face so he didn’t scare Eva. He was overjoyed at being able to use the airlock tube while they sat on the ground as opposed to being 3,700 miles up in space over Mars. If they’d had armor or envirosuits, the Terrans could have just walked from one ship to the other. Mark made a mental note to put armor and envirosuits on his shopping list the moment he got home.
The expertise of their former Terran Space Command pilot, Captain Malone, was put to the test. His touchdown rivaled Rayburn’s, even allowing for the size of the MAVREK-II being twice as large. Outer hatches opened, tubes extended, interlocked, and sealed.
The transfer of Terrans was completed. They were welcomed home like long lost brethren as Rayburn uncoupled and flew off.
Mark submitted to Eva’s medical scan. She confirmed he hadn’t suffered more severe injuries than seemed outwardly apparent.
“The vest protected you from the brunt of the stun attacks, but I wish Dr. Torance were here to give you a full medical scan, plus a nanite injection for your head wounds and the effects of the cuffs.” She ripped open a packet of NewSkin gloves, tossing them at Mark. “Put these on while I get a GelPack for your face.”
Her hands felt light as falling snow as she applied surgical glue to his lip and salves to his face. Eva’s hands lingered on his shoulder, her eyes showed genuine concern.
“Sure you don’t need a sanity check after being in those cuffs?”
“To be honest, Eva, after I found the body and the MPLE put cuffs on me, I was overwhelmed with flashbacks of being strapped on that medpod at Coulter’s mercy for God knows how long. And yes, when I experienced being cuffed again here, on our ship, I admit to having another flashback. But I seem to have had another epiphany in that dingy little room on the station. I haven’t had time to analyze it yet, but I believed that Ohashi was tracking me. And I had faith Axel and Kamryn would find me. My fears were no longer predominant. They were surpassed by hope and faith.”
