"Power source?"
Doctor Sokoloff nodded. "Somewhere."
"What about that cable that parted? What's that?" Arap said.
Colonel Clarke shifted the playback to where the capsule was rising. They watched it go up, then fall once more. "It seems delicate..."
"Had they gone much higher, the gravity on each pillar would be immense," Doctor Sokoloff mumbled. "Doctor Garilov? He's our staff physicist."
Doctor Garilov stepped in front of the group. He was a young man with a tight nose and a frowning face. "Gravity is transmitted through those pillars, away from the center. It is an immense force that they hold. They are spokes in a wheel, a gravity conduit. The cables are a guide, a way to balance that force. If it's unbalanced, the load must be brought down. Catch it at the right moment and you might even snap the pillars."
Colonel Clarke nodded. That settled it. "We're going for those cables. At the very least we'll slow them down."
Sergeant Chibisov, the tank commander of Apex, stomped through the door. He wiped dust off his arms and waited for Colonel Clarke.
Colonel Clarke turned to Arap. "Get the COs here. I want a full status update. Get every tank we can up and running, cannibalize anything that doesn't move. We're striking tonight."
Commander Arap grinned and jogged over to the comm console.
Colonel Clarke walked up to Sergeant Chibisov. "Get Apex up and running, full charge on the reactor. We're headed out tonight." He stopped talking when he saw the look on Chibisov's face. "What is it, Sergeant?"
"Sir, uh, Apex is out of commission."
"What?" Colonel Clarke snapped.
"A maintenance team came in to inspect the drive, and while they were working someone stole the final drive shear pin, sir."
Colonel Clarke stared at his TC and didn't know how to respond. He was reminded by something Arap said. If they can't steal it, fight it, drink it, or fuck it...
#
Chapter Twenty-Four
Planet Squire, Kalivstok System
Vasilov-Kvinsk Xeno-Archaeology Research Camp
In the main entry hall, Tomi struggled to carry Hutchins. He had one massive arm; it felt like a tree trunk. Gous stumbled on the other side. His good arm helped steady Hutch, while his cybernetic arm was floppy and loose.
Kallio led them past a meeting of officers and into what was had once been a cafeteria. "Concussion, skull fracture," she called out.
A woman in a set of dust-stained surgical scrubs looked up from a patient and waved toward the wall. Then a buzzing whir sounded, followed by the sickly crunching of cutting bone.
"Oh God," Gous said. "That brings back some memories."
They gently lowered Hutch down. He floated in and out of consciousness without a clear grasp of where he was. He kept trying to talk, but the words just wouldn't form. Next to him lay a man with his hands bandaged up into white stumps. On the other side was a soldier with tubes going into his mouth and monitoring patches all over. He looked nearly dead.
Tomi had heard the phrase punch drunk before, and that was exactly how he'd describe Hutch. When he stood up, he looked at the room and was stunned. A few dozen men and women lay in various states of injury. Three had blankets pulled up over them.
Kallio slapped Tomi on the arm. "Hey, I said I got it now. I'm going to stay here until we move out and help."
Gous already had his tablet out and was fiddling to get into the building's data connection. "I'll be back too, once they disconnect this busted-ass arm. Till then, it's porno time!"
Tomi nodded quickly. He turned and left.
Colonel Clarke was still speaking when Tomi walked past. Behind him, a large map marked areas of approach. "Very well, gentlemen. Let Arap know if you have issues. And I swear, if I find who stole from my tank, I'll see them shoveling dust here for the rest of their sentence. Dismissed."
Lieutenant Torori stepped away from the group. "Tomi!"
Tomi locked up and waited for the lieutenant to catch up. "Sir?"
"Walk with me," Lieutenant Torori said.
They pushed through the doors and exited into the dust. A sentry was struggling to shovel it clear. The air had settled. The evening sun was an orange smudge that wavered on the horizon. Armored vehicles were plowing through the remnants of the storm and topping off at supply vehicles.
Torori's dust mask half hung from his face. "That was some damned good work. How's Hutch?"
"Skull injury, sir. Kallio's with him."
"Well, at least they just hit him on the head and not somewhere important," Torori said.
Tomi grinned. Hutch was a bit on the slow side, but Tomi hoped his friend would be fine.
They waited as a tank named Delicious Doll rolled past. The side was streaked with shrapnel scars. A soldier stood on top with a rifle cradled in his arms.
"You don't know anything about someone stealing from the colonel, do you Tomi?"
"No, sir."
"Mueller, was he on the recon with you?"
Tomi hesitated for just a split second.
"Wait, wait," Torori said. "Don't answer. Just tell Mueller that in the future, if he goes for a little stroll, to not take anything from the colonel. Not that Mueller did, but hypothetically."
"Yes, sir."
"Tell Mick to meet at Bastard in ten, and get your crew ready."
Tomi ran back to Bulldog with his heart racing. Hess and Wellington were working beneath a plastic shroud. Mick stood outside with Puck and Mueller. "LT wants to see you in ten, Sergeant."
"We're moving out?" Mick said.
"I think so, and, uh, he said to remind Mueller to not steal from the colonel."
Mick smacked Mueller in the back of the head. "You dumbfuck."
Mueller crouched and grinned.
"Kallio's helping out at the aid station."
"She better be back when we roll," Mick said. "How's Hutch?"
"Hurting."
Mick nodded. "Once the boys are done, head over and top off the reactor. Get a full ammo load, too."
"They're about out," Puck said.
"Get everyone to supply. Haul it by hand, then," Mick said. "I'll be back."
Tomi followed the rest of the squad. They left Hess and Wellington to continue installing the final drive. Tomi poked in for a second and saw a mass of gears, shafts, pins, and magnetic servos, and the shear pin. They told him to get the fuck out and seal up the damn door.
The ammo area was a mess. Tanks were jammed up tight next to the trucks. Arguments raged from one tank to the next as to who got there first. Major Bresov stood on the bed of a truck and helped load whichever tank pulled up next.
Puck whacked his hand on the side of the truck. "Major, can we hand-load and hump them to our unit?"
Major Bresov glanced back and nodded. "Save me a traffic jam. Go ahead. One case per soldier."
Puck handed the wooden cases down, and each soldier waddled away. They were almost too heavy to carry. The soldiers stopped, panted, felt the blood rush back into their hands, and continued on. Kallio and Gous joined them on the way back. Gous took one side with his good arm.
One of the ancient walkers trudged past. Tomi glared at it and wished he could hitch a ride. This one still had paint on the side that advertised a taxi service.
When they returned to Bulldog, Mick was waiting. "Load it in!"
Tomi slid his case in and stood outside. When everyone was arrayed, Mick spoke.
"Simple plan. We're the west flank. We're going to slide in onto a ridge, take position, and keep any Emflife armor from punching into our flank. Fox is on the east. Alpha, Charlie, and Delta are swinging up the middle. Questions?"
"What are we hitting, Mick?" Puck said. "There's three armies' worth of Kadan there, not to mention the Emflife."
"Colonel thinks they can slow progress on that launch system, buy us some time to get back to the gate and warn Kalivostok."
Hess and Wellington emerged from the sealed plastic. Both men were streaked with grease
. "It's ready."
"Full combat load. Piss now, we ain't stopping. No more bullshit, no more buttfucking. It's time to shine."
***
11.1 GHZ
EPSILON CRIMSON ENCRYPTION
CONSIDER SQUIRE LOST.
FOCUS ON DEFENSE. THAT LINE MUST HOLD UNTIL WE STRIKE. KVINSK LINK IS STILL TOO WELL DEFENDED. ESSENTIAL THAT YOU BRING THAT CO TO OUR CAUSE. BARRING THAT FABRICATE CHARGES. WE NEED TO MOVE QUICKLY. DUKE KORNILOV HAS PETITIONED THE PEOPLES LORD. WE MUST MOVER BEFORE VASILOV DUCHAL TROOPS REINFORCE THE GATE.
BE PREPARED. WE STRIKE WHEN THE KADAN ASSAULT KALIVOSTOK.
#
Chapter Twenty-Five
Polov System, Deep Space
Vek Esh Shell Starship
Umi snapped the pistol up and fired off one round into the back of each sentry. The rounds burst against the armor plate and punched clear inside.
Both of the Vek guards fell forward and landed with a thump.
Koric started to raise his pistol.
"Eh, eh!" Umi yelled. He placed the muzzle of the pistol between the Vek's shoulder blades. He knew how quick they could move, and a skull was a very small target. A torso was easier to hit. "Drop the gun. Give the cube to Rachel."
Koric dropped the pistol. It landed with a clatter. He handed the cube over to Rachel. "Where will you go?"
Rachel ordered the command staff to block the airlock to the rest of the ship. She tucked the cube into her shirt and looked up at Umi. "Well done."
Umi glanced over at a rack of EVA suits with the last transport sitting next to it. He tried to move his arm and was rewarded with a sharp pain. "Get everyone armed and into EVA suits."
Rachel looked at him.
"You too. Then pick one out for me."
Koric shifted where he stood. "You won't get far. My ship has enough firepower to blast those wrecks apart."
"I'm not worried," Umi said. "You're coming with us."
***
The hull of the wrecked starship slid up closer. It was almost too bright to look at, even as far out from the star as it was. The slender transport flew closer; when they were a few meters away, the pilot braked it, and a jet of gas halted the motion.
Umi looked over his shoulder at the Vek starship and hoped they'd not shoot their own boss. The fact that they hadn't already made him feel a bit better. The suit was extraordinarily uncomfortable with one arm still strapped to his chest.
A line of containers—their food and water—snaked past on a tether and collided with the wrecked hull.
Half of the original team was still waiting, huddled on the outside of the ship. The newcomers added to the crush. Rachel pushed Koric before her. One of the command staff helped Umi.
"What's the holdup?" Umi said. His voice sounded tinny in his ears.
"Still verifying it's clear," Bill called.
"Vik? Vaughn?"
Vik replied back. "We're working on it, Cap."
"Work faster. The Vek went rogue."
Vaughn grunted. "Surprise, surprise. OK, well, we're almost to the bridge. The hall should be clear."
"Send 'em in," Umi said. He watched the Vek ship. To him it was a big oval covered in panels, hatches, instruments, and stuff. He didn't know shit about a starship. If they were preparing to fire, he'd never know. "Kelly, you read?"
Static crackled, and then a voice whispered through. "Hi, Cap. It's not too bad here. Lots of superficial damage. Holed for sure."
"Get ready to move back."
"I heard," she said. "Vek went fuck Sigg, eh?"
"Vek went fuck humans. How long till you're..." He let the words drift off.
Panels slid open on the Vek ship and a turret deployed. The barrels swung and pointed directly at the smaller of the two hulks.
"Everyone in! They're weapons hot!" Umi yelled. "Kelly, stay put. Get ready to move."
"Confirmed," she replied.
Umi waved over someone to help him, and they moved inside.
A group pulled in the tethered supplies. If what Raziz said was correct, they might just be able to get the starship working. Even if they could, without food or water they'd be in for a rough trip. Though Umi had his doubts they'd live through the hour.
Inside was a crush of people. Some were exploring the nearest rooms. Others struggled to lash the crates. Without gravity, everything was more difficult.
Umi pushed himself off and headed down to where Vik and Vaughn were. He passed by door after door. The cleared doors all had a green X chalked onto them.
A shape appeared out of one of the doors and bounded off one wall.
Umi struggled to aim as he floated and then caught himself. It was Bill.
"I almost shot you."
"That would have been bad!"
Umi bounced off a collapsed bulkhead; luckily, on his good shoulder. "No shit. Now what do you think?"
"It's ready," Bill said.
"For what?"
"To go."
"What are we waiting for, then?" Umi said.
"The cube, everyone else, and, well, a few minor engineering issues."
"Rachel, you hear that?" Umi said.
"Yes."
Vik called next. "Bridge is clear. If there's more crawlers, they're hiding."
"Get to the bridge. We need to get a plan."
Umi bounced down the hall with Bill helping to steady him. The Opoolio seemed to have a natural grasp of zero-g motion. As they went, Umi studied the ship and decided it felt a lot like Master Sevel's ship, the only other starship he’d ever traveled on.
Vik stood at the door to the bridge. One side of his suit was covered in emergency sealant. He only had a single spare magazine clipped to his belt. Vaughn sat at a console and poked at keys. Nothing happened.
"Stop that!" Bill said. He bounced onto the bridge and popped open an access panel.
Rachel came in, with Koric in front of her. His suit was limp, his body too small to take up the full bulk of it. She handed the cube to Bill.
Bill grasped it gently between two of his legs. He launched off and disappeared behind an access panel. Only his two hind legs were visible.
"What will you do with me?" Koric asked.
"That depends what your friends do to us," Umi said. "If they play nice, we play nice."
Lights flickered on. The bridge was awash in a dull, blue glow. A moment later, the screens blinked and slowly came to life. Characters flowed past. Video feeds came online. Alarm lights blinked, and through it all a central console came to life.
Bill emerged once more and directed the engineers to different spots. One of them pushed Vaughn to the side and slid into his seat. Vaughn looked offended but just held on and watched.
Bill settled in just in front of the main console. He studied the display. With one leg he gently tapped the console and then nodded. "We, uh, we need fuel."
"What do you mean, we need fuel?" Umi said.
Koric broke free from Rachel and pushed himself ahead. "Well, seems you were premature. That was part of our original deal."
Lights flashed and the video feed swung over to the second starship. The Vek ship had just fired on Kelly's transport. Starbursts of sparks erupted from the side. There was an explosion of gas and the transport disappeared.
"Kelly!" Umi called. He tried to spin and grab Koric but just managed to slam into him. "You son of a bitch. Call them off."
Rachel adjusted the comms on her wrist. "I got them. They want Koric."
The screen shifted and data flowed in a three-dimensional display. Bill's legs danced on the console, and every so often he shifted where he was so he didn't float away.
Kelly responded a second later, but the comms were even weaker. "We're OK, Cap. You coming to pick us up?"
"Working on it."
"Rachel, trade Koric for the fuel. They bring it. When it's loaded here, we let him go," Umi said. He turned to Vik and Vaughn. "Reload. We've got more ammo by the airlock. Prep in case they try to come in."
"Captai
n Matsuo?" Bill said.
"Is it critical, Bill?"
"Well, no."
"Then give me two engineers and show us where to move the fuel."
Umi bounced out with an engineer leading the way and one holding his good arm. They tied Koric's hands and left him next to the airlock. First they moved all the food and water crates into the cargo hold. The engineers cracked open a rather dull-looking engine room. Three rectangles were set into the floor. They had crystal tops and were a dead gray.
An engineer hit a manual release and struggled to slide the hatch off. Inside were dozens of empty cells.
Umi studied the distance. He needed to buy some time. Once they had the fuel, it would take a few minutes to get set up. Then he had to worry about getting over to Kelly. He thought and paced.
Rachel came in. "The Vek just left their ship."
"Kelly?" Umi said.
"Sir?" Kelly said.
"What's your team say? Is anything operational?"
"It's all operational. The whole thing is just hulled. We don't have any atmosphere except a few areas."
"Fuel?"
"Yah, they say we're topped off."
Umi felt a wave of relief. At least Kelly could get out.
"If the Vek open up, you boogie, got it?"
"Negative, Cap—"
"Shut up. Now get outside, we're tossing some crates your way." Umi bounced into the hall and directed the waiting salvage team to toss a few crates of supplies out the opposite airlock. He could just make out a speck of a person scrambling along the sides. From the way it moved, it wasn't Kelly but one of the salvage experts.
Bill found Umi again. "Captain?"
Umi looked out through the open airlock. The Vek ship was almost there.
"What?" Umi said to Bill. He didn't take his eyes off the airlock. He couldn't see any weapons on the transport, but the space was big enough to hold a dozen troops. He checked his pistol.
"I know where they were going."
"Who?"
"The Vek."
"Eh?"
"The cube absorbed the navigational data when the Vek put it into their system."
The transport was almost on top of them.
"Get ready!" Vik called. He'd swapped out his submachine gun for a heavy-barreled squad assault rifle.
Steel Storm (Steel Legion Book 2) Page 17
