by Dennis Young
“Jian, stay put until they’ve moved out of sight.” Talice watched Briggs’s camera feed.
“I’d rather slither away while I can see them, Captain.”
Talice mused, then nodded to herself. “Copy that. Take no chances. We need intel first, as discussed.”
“Hua. Moving. Briggs is covering.”
The comm was quiet for a few minutes.
“One more coming out. Looks like… Yeah, woman with long hair tied back. Can’t tell if it’s Jance, though. NightSight is worthless for color.” Briggs again.
Mac pulled up pics from their earlier drone recon and zoomed in. “Three women.” She clicked through the pictures. “The other two have shorter hair, or in a bun. Can’t really tell. Assume Jance for the moment.”
“Copy. I’ve lost sight of Jian. Hard to cover someone when you can’t see them.”
“He knows what he’s doing, big guy. Stay calm, focus.”
“Damn, this would be so easy if we could just… shoot them.”
“Stay on task,” said Mac into her headset mike. “You’ve been there about thirty minutes. Nikolay says comm is still secure.” She looked to Talice, who nodded.
“Take lots of notes,” said Talice with a chuckle.
“Yeah, right. Let me dig out my SLATE.”
“I’m on the northeast corner of the area.” Jian. “All buildings are dark. Looks like everyone is concentrated in the central building or the one just east of it. Two lights in the second floor of the central building. The other building has lights on the ground floor.”
“Figure two people for each light, plus the ones outside. Our original count of eleven is still good,” said Mac. She keyed the intercom again. “Briggs, what about ground vehicles?”
“Two ATVs, one with an empty gun mount, the other just a light carrier. I’ll bet the auto-feeder over the front door came from that ATV mount.”
“What else do we need?” Mac looked up at Talice.
“We need an opening to take out Jance.”
“Why don’t we just shoot her?”
“… Damn. Why not?”
“Everyone is headed back inside.” Briggs again. “Lights are going out. What the hell?”
“Shit!” Talice keyed her mike. “Get out! They’ve tracked you somehow. Fuck, how do they do this? Jian, get out of there!”
No answer.
“I’ll find him.”
“Briggs, no! He’s trained, he can take care of himself. Get away, now!” Mac, before Talice could even answer.
“Jian, respond! Shit!” Talice clicked off. “How quick can you get your 10mm drone there?”
Mac checked the location and distance. “Five minutes.”
“Do it. Go in, guns blazing. Geez, how the fuck do they know what we’re doing?”
“On the way.” Mac hit the comm button. “Briggs, status!”
“Moved away, still have the target area in sight. No idea where Jian is.” Briggs, obviously running.
“Talice, did you send him in after Jance?” Mac’s face was filled with horror.
“I… we talked about it, yes. But we agreed only if the tactical situation was to his advantage.”
“You know he’s probably going to die.”
Talice looked away, fuming. She hit the comm key again. “Jian, abort! Get out! Drone on the way with cover!”
“Hua, Captain, just—”
Gunfire erupted over the speaker.
“Jian! Briggs, where is that fire coming from?”
“Central building. All the lights came up just before shots were fired.” Briggs paused. “I see the drone. I’m covering the front door now.”
More gunfire from the speaker. They heard a woman scream.
“Not a hit. Sounded more like someone ducking for cover,” said Mac.
“Jian, get out the front! Briggs is covering!”
A grunt over the speaker.
“Dammit!” Talice punched the key once more. “Briggs, I think Jian is hit. Watch for him out the front.” She clicked off. “Mac, take the drone in through the back.”
“We’re not supposed to kill these people, you know.”
“Yeah, well, we’re also not supposed to stand around and get killed either. I’ll take my chances with Fawkes if I have to. Do it.”
Talice clicked over to the comm. “Briggs, report.”
“Sporadic gunfire. I think Jian is pinned down.”
“How far to the ATV?”
“About two hundred yards. On the backside of the buildings, near where we came in.”
“Mac is taking the drone through the back. As soon as Jian comes out, get him and head west around the target area. Get to the ATV and get out!”
“Hua. Drone is circling. This is gonna get interesting real quick.”
Talice clicked off again. “Fuck, Mac. Just… dammit, this was stupid. I fucked up royal.”
“Easy, Princess. They’re still alive. They know their jobs.”
Distant gunfire erupted in the speaker again.
“Drone is in! Yeah, Jian is coming out. He’s limping. I’m going in.”
Talice hit the comm switch. “Briggs, double time! Get Jian, get out!”
More gunfire over the speaker. They watched as windows in the building exploded outward. Then the drone stopped firing.
“Briggs!”
“Got him. We’re around the corner and headed toward the hangar. No bad guys yet.”
“Drone is down,” said Mac.
By this time, a crowd had gathered at TacOps. Talice had only then realized Niky was at one shoulder and Ollie, the other. Dosu and Rory stood behind them like a wall. Tooley was at the corner, watching quietly.
“Briggs, report.”
“Waiting. No resistance yet.”
“Move when you’re safe, big guy. Status on Jian.”
“Leg.” Jian’s voice was weak, but there. “AP round, went right through my armor.”
“Move at your discretion, I have the third drone in the air for cover.” Mac, on the ball. “ETA five minutes.”
“We’re gonna stay here for a few minutes while the drone gets in place,” said Briggs. “Jian is patching his leg up. I think we’re safe here for a minute or two.”
“Get back here as fast as you can. They’ve got nothing to follow with that’s armed, so you should be okay.”
Talice clicked off and turned to the team. “They’re alright. Thanks for coming in.”
Jamal stuck his head around the corner. “I heard shouting.”
Talice nodded grimly. “And yelling and screaming.”
The team dispersed slowly. Mac turned to Talice again. “Just what did we learn from that, exactly?”
Talice thought for a moment. “We learned whoever these people are, they aren’t the flunkies we expected. And Jance is still alive.”
* * *
Briggs and Jian had made it out, and no one followed. Jian’s wound was clean. Jamal had him in the infirmary for no more than an hour, then confined him to his bunk for a day. Jian grumbled, but Talice backed up Jamal.
“We’ve got everything else covered. You rest. Mac and I are working on a plan.” She laid a hand on his shoulder and turned to leave his cabin.
“I saw Jance.”
Talice turned slowly and sat back down beside his bunk. “And…?”
“She saw me first. No chance to get off a shot.” Jian nodded to his wound. “Another second, and that would have been a gut shot.”
“So… you dodged. But didn’t return fire?”
He shook his head. “Pinned down, like Briggs said. There were at least eight or ten in that room. All shooting at me. If Mac’s drone hadn’t showed up, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
They were quiet together for a while.
“We’re in trouble, aren’t we?” asked Jian.
Talice gave a wry chuckle. “Yeah, you could say that. Truthfully, things could be a lot worse. Jamal says the ship will fly again with another couple of days
work. We’ve sustained casualties. And fatalities.”
“Bělinka…”
Talice nodded. “Niky’s holding it together pretty well. He’s staying busy, helping out, nearly exhausting himself. He’s dealing with it in his way.” She shook her head. “Which reminds me, I need to see Abie. You know she lost a hand, right?”
“Not to mention a copilot. Will was a good guy.”
“And now she has to fly us out of here one-handed and by herself. We’re not that far from home, but without long-range comm, the next few days are gonna be tough.”
Talice rose again and bumped his shoulder with a fist. “You take it easy. Back on duty tomorrow night.”
“I’ll be there, Captain. A little hole in my leg won’t stop me.”
Talice gave him a smile and took her exit. She stood for a moment in the corridor. How do they know what we’re doing before we do it? Do we have an informer on board? If so, who? Tooley is the only newbie. Surely not. Geez, I hope not. If Gorg Evans was here, he could find out. But I guess it’s up to me. Gotta talk to Mac.
* * *
Talice took a detour to her hammock. She was shaking. She realized it was the first time she’d felt like this since starting the C-12Ultra protocol. How long since I changed my patch? Drank a bottle of S-H? Damn, I’m so thirsty, my tongue feels like a block of wood. Where’s my head been? Oh, yeah…
She put a hand on the corridor wall to steady herself. Took a step downship. Then another. And another. Her vision narrowed almost to a pinpoint. What the hell?
She nearly stumbled, paused for a minute leaning against the wall, then took a deep breath and moved her feet. She stepped through the hatch and took a moment. Her knees were trembling as she sat beside her safe, keyed the combination and withdrew her box of patches. She ripped the top from a bottle of S-H and downed it, then laid her head back against the bulkhead.
She shucked her camis off and peeled away the patch on her inner thigh. It came away the proverbial bone dry. Fuck…
“Captain?”
Talice opened her eyes slowly. Briggs stood at the deployment bay entrance. “Give me a hand, big guy, will you?” She held out the box of patches in a shaking hand.
Briggs knelt. “What the hell? Is this the thing you’ve been dealing with? I had no idea.”
“Peel off the backing and stick the patch on. Left leg.” Talice’s head was spinning. The S-H didn’t seem to be helping like it usually did. She reached into the safe and withdrew another bottle. Drank it. Took a breath. Then another.
Briggs gently applied the C-12Ultra patch, then helped her back into her pants.
“Thanks. Gimme a minute.”
“I’ll get Jamal.”
Talice shook her head weakly. “No. I forgot to change my patch today. I’ll be okay, just… stay with me, will you?”
Briggs started to speak, then simply nodded. Finally, he said, “You’ve been dealing with this for years, haven’t you? We knew a bit about it, but… damn.”
Meds flowed into Talice’s body. She smiled. “My fucking drug habit…”
They chuckled together.
“Look, I need to see Mac. Let her know I’ll be in TacOps in a few minutes, will you?”
Briggs nodded reluctantly. “Sure… need anything? A pillow and blanket, maybe?”
They laughed together again.
Talice opened her eyes. “I’m good. Ten minutes, then I’ll be on my feet.” She touched his hand. “Thanks, big guy.”
“Hua, Captain. I’ll let Mac know.” He rose and stepped away, through the hatch. He looked back once, then was gone.
Talice started to stand, then sat back, knowing she needed to simply stay put for a few minutes.
What the hell would I do without these people? Fucking die, probably…
* * *
Mac was at TacOps when Talice came around the divider. Talice nodded as Mac gave her an expectant look.
“Sit down before you fall down. You’re pale as an old barracks sheet. And guess what I found?”
Talice disappeared around the corner for a minute, then returned with tea for both of them. “Amaze me with your prowess, lady. Whacha got?”
Mac brought up a scan on the screen; clouds and sunset waned as stars winked into brightness, one by one. “I caught this just because the light was right. Recording from yesterday.” She zoomed in on a dot in the sky.
Talice sipped, then squinted at the screen. “What the…? Aircraft of some sort?”
Mac shook her head and zoomed the picture further. The image became grainy. “This is the best I could get at this distance. Not a drone. It’s a balloon.”
Talice could barely make out any details. “Okay… what’s it doing? And where is it?”
“It’s above the target area. It’s a monitoring station.” Mac turned to her. “This is how they knew what we were doing. It’s at twenty kilometers, higher than my drones can go. That’s why we didn’t see it. And it probably didn’t even register on Bird One’s sensors, or they simply weren’t looking for it at all during our approach. A simple, brilliant, early-warning system.”
Talice sat back, shaking her head. “Probably got cameras that can watch us pee. Damn, that’s impressive.”
“My guess is, they had these on Eos and Crius, too. That’s how Nemesis and Jance knew what we were doing. Odds say they might even have been her idea. She’s sharp.”
Talice looked to Mac. “Can we take it out? I mean, now?”
“I don’t see how, not until Bird One is in the air. My 10mm drone crashed out, and the others don’t have weapons, other than grenades.”
“How do we miss this stuff, Mac? We’re supposed to be the smart ones.”
Mac shrugged. “Desperate times call for anything you can do. Yes, this is a shocker, but when you think about it, not unexpected.”
Talice nodded after a minute. “And these people sure as hell don’t want to be taken alive. So now what? We have a stalemate.”
“Until the ship is ready to go, we wait. I’ve got no other answer.”
“… Right. So that’s our first priority. Get Bird One back in the sky, then blow this little snooping thing out of the air. Maybe then we can have some success against these people. We know how to do this job. We just need to do it. We’ve been trying to be nice. Let’s go back to being Marines.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Where do We Go from Here?
(Part Two)
Steeped in Madness
“The best military policy is to attack strategies;
the next to attack alliances;
the next to attack soldiers.”
Sun Tzu, “The Art of War”
Day Five…
Abie was awake and alert when Talice entered the infirmary. And mad. Definitely mad.
“You kept me under the wire for two days, Captain. Two days I could have been helping get my ship back together. Now I find out Will’s dead and Bělinka’s dead, and Bird One’s shot to pieces.” She raised the stump of her arm. “You think this would keep me from working my ass off?”
Talice grinned. “No it wouldn’t, but if you don’t shut up, I’m gonna have Jamal give you another twenty-four hours to sleep it off.”
They stared at each other for a long moment. A tear trickled down Abie’s cheek. “I don’t even remember what happened.”
“You got the ship down in once piece. Jamal has the team working hard to get it back airworthy. In the meantime, we’ve found out a lot about these so-called flunkies, who really aren’t flunkies at all.”
Talice motioned to Abie’s arm. “And now that you’re awake, you can start putting Bird One through a pretty substantial checklist. We’re going home in a couple of days, one way or the other, and you’ve got to fly us there. And I’m sure the Marines will be happy to provide you with a new hand.”
“Bělinka…”
Talice nodded. “I know. Look, the truth is, you’re the only one who can fly this ship, so we’ll need you at your best. Spendi
ng the last two days exhausting yourself wouldn’t have been a good way to go, especially with your condition. We’ll have to figure out how to help you during things like takeoff and landing. And I’m sorry about Will. Hell, I’m sorry about this whole damned mess.”
“I gotta tell his folks. They’ll be devastated.”
“We’ll both take care of that duty when the time comes.”
They were silent again for a time.
Abie glanced at her still-bandaged arm. “Jamal says the batteries are draining. Probably damaged when we took the first hit.”
Talice’s face went rigid. “How much time…”
“Maybe three days, no more.” Abie’s eyes widened. “Oh, shit, Captain, didn’t he tell you? Did I just—”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll talk to him and get the details.” Talice drew a breath to calm herself. It didn’t work, but she forged ahead. “In the meantime, we need to get you back on solid food and on your feet. You’ve had your beauty rest. Time to go back to work.”
Abie shrugged, chagrined. “Copy that, Captain. I want out of this bed so bad.”
“Then get out of it. You want breakfast or dinner?”
* * *
Talice settled Abie in the ready room with a plate and called Tooley to keep her company. Then went in search of Mac. She found her at TacOps with Jamal and Nikolay, and the mood wasn’t pretty.
“Are you aware—” Mac paused at Talice’s look.
“Jamal, tell me about the battery problem.” Talice took a seat with Mac. Between her and Jamal and Nikolay.
“I… Sorry, Captain, I’ve been so busy, I forgot to mention it. I told Abie just a couple of hours ago.”
Talice nodded. “And she told me. What’s the story. And the rest of the repairs. All of it.”
Jamal sat back and shrugged. “We’ve done about all we can. I don’t recommend speeds higher than a couple hundred kilometers an hour, or we could tear away the plates covering the hole in the cockpit. That area is low-pressure, and stresses could suck our repairs right off.”
“Okay, noted. It’s gonna be a long flight home. What else?”
