by Marko Kloos
“If their bow and stern blinkers are anywhere near their actual bow and stern ends, they’re not quite sixty meters long,” Tess said. “Still a lot bigger than we are. But nowhere near the size of a frigate.”
“Under fifty kilometers now,” Maya said. “If we decide to run and they launch at us, we may not be able to zap what they’re throwing our way.”
“Then let’s not give them a reason to launch,” Decker said. “Is that tight-beam link still open, Aden?”
“Affirmative,” he replied.
“Hecate, this is Zephyr, Captain Ronja Decker, requesting to speak with Lieutenant Commander Park over vidcom link.”
“Zephyr, wait one.”
A few seconds later, a new screen projection opened in front of Decker. Aden felt an unwelcome spike of anxiety when he saw the craggy features and the light-blue eyes of the Rhodian Navy officer who’d held their fates in his hand a few weeks ago when they had delivered a nuclear warhead to him. The background of the image was comprehensively blurred out by the Rhodian ship’s comms AI, a clear sign that the Rhody crew did not want anyone to see the interior of that ludicrously stealthy ship, not even an accidental glimpse of a console or data screen.
“Lieutenant Commander, I will say that I was hoping I wouldn’t see you again for a while, if ever,” Decker said.
He raised one shoulder a little to bring one of his rank sleeves into the image frame.
“It’s ‘commander’ now, actually. They saw fit to give me another stripe.” He flashed a brief and awkward smile.
“It looks like they gave you a new ship, too. What happened to your old one?”
His smile disappeared again. “Decommissioned and on the way to the wrecking yard. Damaged beyond repair. We had a disagreement with a heavy gun cruiser.”
“Sorry to hear that,” Decker said. “I hope your crew came out of it okay.”
“No casualties, thankfully. But I am sure you didn’t ask me out here personally to catch up on old times, Captain Decker. You mentioned a lead. I hope it’s worth the reactor fuel we both burned to get here.”
Decker closed her eyes briefly and exhaled.
“After we gave you that nuke, we went to Acheron for a ship overhaul. While we were planetside, the people who hired us to deliver that cargo sent one of their enforcers. They demanded our ship in exchange for the value they lost. I have a set of coordinates to deliver Zephyr so they can seize her and claim a salvage title.”
“I hope you didn’t consider that,” Commander Park said. “You’d end up air locked in the middle of nowhere. You know that.”
Decker nodded.
“We had that suspicion. That is why we decided to head home to Oceana and wait them out.”
Park flashed his curt smile again. “And I am guessing that didn’t work out too well.”
Decker shook her head slowly. “They killed one of my crew. And another one is still in the medical ward.”
“I told you this when I let you go,” Commander Park said. “I told you that the sort of people who smuggle nuclear arms are not the kind that will be happy with a refund and a heartfelt apology. I’m surprised they didn’t kill you all.”
“It wasn’t for a lack of trying,” Decker said.
“You should have brought this to the Rhodian Navy the moment you got those coordinates. Not run off and played hide-and-seek with a black-market arms cartel.”
“That was right after the nuclear attack on Rhodia,” Decker replied. “You know how hot tempers get after something like that. We were sure the first Rhodian Navy unit we came across would just haul us in and lock us up.”
“You are probably correct. But you’d still have all your crew, Captain. And I don’t take pleasure in pointing out that fact. But I am sorry for your loss.”
There were a few moments of silence between Decker and the Rhodian commander.
“This will stay with me for the rest of my life,” she finally said. “We can’t turn back the clock on this. But we can try to serve up the people who did this.”
“You want me to help you with a revenge mission,” Park said. “That’s why you wanted to meet out here.”
He laughed and shook his head. “This is a Rhodian Navy warship. We’re not guns for hire.”
“We lost one man,” Decker said. “You lost how many people? Thirty-seven thousand? If there’s a chance the same people are behind both, why wouldn’t you want to get your hands on them?”
“Oh, I would love to,” Commander Park said. “Even if they’re not the ones who dropped that nuke. Chances are they know the ones who did. Maybe they even sold them that warhead. And even if they had nothing to do with Rhodia at all, they still need to be shut down. Nuclear weapons threaten the stability of the whole system.”
“Then let us help each other. I’m not saying we’re out here purely out of unalloyed altruism. But I don’t see why that should matter to you. We play the bait. You get to reel in the catch. We all get what we want.”
“What do you propose, Captain?”
“We go to the coordinates they gave us. We’ll do as we were told. Turn on our emergency beacon, launch our emergency pod, then see what comes our way. And you’ll be right behind us to deal with them when they show up.”
“Once they realize you crossed them again and there’s a warship coming in to spoil their salvage, they’ll blast you to shreds,” Park said.
“Then we’ll see if our Point Defense System was worth the money,” Decker said.
Commander Park chuckled and shook his head again. “I think it’s a terrible idea for you to assume that sort of risk. There is absolutely no guarantee that we will be in a position to prevent them from taking your ship or blowing it up. You have no idea what’s going to be waiting out there. But you seem to be strongly determined to keep disregarding my well-meaning advice.”
Captain Decker held the commander’s gaze.
“I want payback,” she said. “And so do you. It’s not the noblest motivation, I know. But I’ll be damned if it’s not a satisfying one.”
Commander Park smiled. To Aden, it didn’t look like an amused or humorous smile. It looked like the satisfied expression on the face of a killer who has finally gotten a glimpse of an elusive target.
“Yes,” he said. “It most certainly is. Send your data and the coordinates, and I’ll review them with my first officer and the rest of the command crew. Maybe we can fine-tune things a little. But, Captain?”
“Yes, Commander?” Decker replied.
“Understand that I can’t guarantee your survival. But if these people kill you, I’ll try to make sure you don’t have to wait long for them in the afterlife.”
CHAPTER 18
IDINA
The chirp of an electronic alarm stirred Idina from her sleep, and she sat up in her bed and blinked. At first she thought that her wake-up signal had gone off, but the time projection on the ceiling above her bed showed 0915 hours, almost two hours before her scheduled alert.
“Room, cancel blackout,” she said. The windows, which had been completely opaque, slowly became transparent again until they let in the full daylight. Idina blinked and looked for the source of the continuing chirping. Her duty comtab sat on the small utility table on the other side of the room, and she got out of bed to answer the incoming comms request.
“Go ahead,” she said to the device when she sat down at the table. A small screen materialized above the comtab.
“Good morning, Chaudhary,” Color Sergeant Norgay said. “Sorry for the intrusion. I know your watch doesn’t start until noon.”
“It’s all right, Norgay. What’s the emergency?”
“The deputy high commissioner would like to see you in his office this morning.”
Here we go, Idina thought. He’s had some time to process what happened, and now he’s bristling because he got chewed out by a lowly color sergeant.
“Any idea what he wants?” she asked.
Norgay shrugged. “No idea. He j
ust asked me to tell you to stop by at your convenience.”
“At my convenience,” she said. “Now’s convenient, I guess. I’ll be over in fifteen.”
“Thanks, Chaudhary. I’ll pass it on.”
She terminated the link and sighed. The DHC wasn’t a military officer in her chain of command, but he was the second-highest Palladian authority on Gretia, one of the ten people who were in charge of every aspect of the occupation, military and civilian alike. If he wanted her disciplined or thrown off the planet and sent back home despite the troop rotation freeze, he had the power to do it. She had run her mouth out of turn, and now she’d have to bear the consequences.
Might as well get it over with, she thought and looked around for her uniform.
When Norgay led her into the office of the deputy high commissioner fifteen minutes later, the DHC was standing at the window, with his back toward the door. His office had a great view of the park and the Sandvik skyline beyond. It was another sunny autumn day out there, and the only thing spoiling the scenery was the blue shimmer of the security barrier in the distance.
“Sir, Color Sergeant Chaudhary is here for you as requested,” Norgay said.
The deputy high commissioner turned his head and waved her in.
“Good morning,” he said. “Thank you for coming over on short notice. I know you aren’t on duty yet.”
Norgay left and closed the door behind him. Idina walked over to the window and joined the DHC.
“Not a problem, sir. We’re on call all the time anyway. What can I do for you?”
A pair of combat gyrofoils came in low from the direction of the city. The DHC watched as they soared overhead and disappeared from view above the building.
“You’ve been with the JSP company for a while, right?”
Idina nodded. “I got assigned to the JSP in the spring. My platoon did patrols with the Gretians right up until they suspended the JSP teams after the nuke attack.”
“I noticed that you don’t have any reservations about speaking your mind. Do you think we made a mistake when we stopped patrolling with the local police?”
“Absolutely,” Idina said without hesitation.
“Would you care to expand on that?”
She took a deep breath before she answered.
“The JSP cooperation was the most successful thing to come out of this whole occupation. It took us years to get a good working relationship going. We had intel on the ground, from people who know their neighborhoods. We built trust with them one day at a time, one patrol at a time. And then we pissed it all away because we just had to make a big show of force. We did exactly what these Odin’s Wolves bastards wanted us to do.”
“You think we are going the wrong route with the strict blockade.”
“We’re accomplishing nothing with it. Other than pissing off whatever part of the population here wasn’t mad at us before. If they all decide they don’t want us here anymore, there aren’t enough boots we can put on the ground to keep the peace. Not without their help.”
The deputy high commissioner smiled and shook his head.
“You certainly don’t hold back, Color Sergeant.”
“With all due respect, sir, but why are you asking my opinion? I’m not a general. I’m not even an officer. I’m just an infantry sergeant. I had no word in that decision.”
“I asked Color Sergeant Norgay which of the troopers he knew in the Green Zone had the most experience working with the Gretian police, and your name came up.”
“Well, sir.” Idina shifted her weight uneasily. “All that experience went out of the window when the high commission decided to suspend the JSP and reassign us all to diplomatic security.”
“I had no voice in that decision,” the DHC said. “I only got here a few days ago. But I agree with you that it may have been hasty and ill-advised.”
He nodded at the Sandvik skyline in the distance.
“I’m going to meet with the Gretian police command this afternoon. We are going to discuss the possibility of resuming the JSP cooperation. I’d like you to come along with your section for added security. And because you may be able to share your experience and perspective. Show them that we’re willing to act in good faith. Maybe we haven’t used up all their goodwill.”
Idina did a little double take, and the DHC smiled at her reaction.
“That would be the most useful thing anyone has done since this whole mess started,” she said. “I have to say that this is not what I expected when I walked in.”
“You expected to get dressed down.”
“It wasn’t my place to criticize your decision yesterday, sir. I was speaking in the heat of the moment. I apologize.”
“I misjudged the situation on the ground,” he said. “And you were right. Even if your criticism was a little blunt. The next time you have an issue with my judgment, please ask me aside and voice it in private.”
Maybe I misjudged you after all, Idina thought.
“Understood, sir,” she said. “Of course I will come along with my section. I know a few people over there. Who knows? It may lighten the atmosphere if they see a few familiar faces.”
“Good,” he replied. “Color Sergeant Norgay tells me the transport is scheduled for 1300.”
“We will be on time.” She hesitated. “Uh, are we going via surface or gyrofoil?”
The deputy high commissioner smiled and shook his head.
“The security assessment says it’s safer to fly. I think I will take that advice this time.”
In the briefing room at the embassy, her platoon stood ready when she walked in five minutes before the official start of the watch briefing. Idina looked at her group of young troopers carefully, trying to spot telltale signs of stress or fatigue after yesterday’s events and the long evening that had followed. She had expected at least one or two sick calls today, but when she did a quick head count, every section was at full strength.
“Good morning, Fifth Platoon,” she said when she had taken stock. “Yesterday was a big, steaming pile of shit.”
Some of the troopers in the room chuckled or nodded in agreement.
“I’m glad to see everyone reporting in this morning. But I want to remind you all that there’s no shame in sitting out a patrol or two after a day like that. We’re not machines. I don’t want to send out anyone who has a light trigger finger because they’re strung out. Section leaders, report any concerns with your people to me after the briefing and before we arm up downstairs.”
Her section corporals voiced their acknowledgments.
“The security situation is a little spicy after what happened yesterday,” she said. “Drone coverage has been doubled. Gate guard has been doubled as well, and they’ve assigned armor to the buffer zone. I don’t expect anyone to try and force the gate because that would be a suicide run. But the brass are jumpy right now. They want to see lots of troopers with rifles between them and the barrier.
“Which brings me to today’s patrol assignments,” she continued. “Red and Blue sections pulled perimeter patrol yesterday, so today Purple and Green get the honor. Yellow Section has the gate guard. Blue Section, rooftop overwatch. And Red Section gets the field-trip assignment today. You’re going to do executive protection for the DHC with me.”
The troopers of Red Section exchanged guarded looks.
“He’s going out again today?” Corporal Shakya asked. “After what happened yesterday?”
“And we are going with him,” Idina confirmed. “But this is good news. We’re taking the combat bird this time. And we are heading into the city. To talk to the Gretians about kicking off the JSP patrols again. Looks like somebody upstairs recognized that it was a little hasty to pull the plug on those.”
There were general sounds of approval in the room. Garrison duty was boring, and guard duty was the most tedious garrison duty of all. Troops who were assigned to do long stretches of it always lost much of their edge and motivation. The police patrols
with the JSP were riskier than patrolling the inside of the Green Zone perimeter, but Idina liked that it was never boring work, that no two shifts were ever the same, and she knew that most of her platoon felt the same way.
“We’ll be added security again. We make sure the DHC gets there safely and then makes it back to the Green Zone again. He has his regular crew, so we’re just there in case something goes sideways. Which is not likely because we are going to the Gretian police HQ. You all know that place is a citadel.”
She checked the time on her comtab.
“Right. The good news for Red Section is that we have an extra half hour to get ready. We’ll grab weapons and kit after everyone else is done. Any questions?”
The section corporals shook their heads. Idina nodded and put her comtab away.
“Very well. Red Section, stick around for a minute. All other sections, go and gear up. Assembly out front at 1200 hours. And keep your heads out there, people. You’re all professionals at this. Stay calm and cool until there’s a really good reason not to be.”
The bulk of the platoon filed out of the room behind their section leaders. Idina distributed encouraging nods as her troopers passed her on the way out. Then the briefing room was empty except for her and the eight troopers of Red Section.
“We have an extra thirty minutes, so if any of you need to hit the head or grab something from the mess hall, go ahead,” Idina said. “We will be out for the rest of the day.”
“Do you expect any trouble, Colors?” Corporal Shakya asked.
She shook her head.
“The DHC wants us along because the Gretians know a bunch of us. He figured it might make things a little more cordial.”
He nodded, seemingly relieved.
“But we’re still going to gear up just like the rest of the platoon,” she said. “Medium armor and battle rifles for everyone. None of that low-profile soft armor and sidearms business like yesterday.”
“Don’t you think the DHC will find that look a little aggressive?” Shakya asked.
