“Nope. I did that on purpose. You guys need to be in touch.”
Mack grunted something that suggested Tens might have warned us, but I couldn’t be sure. Weapons fire lit up our landing space, and the suits worn by the outer ring, flared as external shields activated.
“Ambush,” and the commander sounded unfazed, almost like he’d expected it.
“It is clan business,” he said, and then the Skymander troops leapt to their feet, and attacked the four sides of the space around them. If I hadn’t known any better, I’d have said they’d done this before.
“Many times,” was not an answer I wanted to hear, even as it was welcome.
I ran with Mack, and the troops parted to let us fit into their battle line. We hit the trees at the edge of the landing space, and I remembered to look up, was firing as the first arach dropped. There was no time to warn the others, but Tens had linked the implants, and soon the battle lines alternated between those firing upward to engage the arach dropping from the trees, and those firing forward to deal with the combat soldiers firing from cover in front of us.
The shooting match soon became a melee, and I found myself wielding the Glazer in one hand and the now-familiar machete in the other. I’d used the Blazer to deal with the first two arach dropping directly onto me, and then cleared the two attacking the troops on either side. They’d provided enough melee cover for me to fire further down the line, but then there’d been too many friendlies in the way, and I’d waded in to join them in clearing the arach from the rear of the men engaging the more human shapes ahead.
The movement took me away from Mack, but I figured he’d be fine. If he didn’t like it, he could always kick my ass later. The action lasted less than three minutes, and I stuck with the nearest soldier, as he made sure of the arach and enemy troops nearest, before going to join the main body.
On the way back, one of the arach ‘corpses’ rose from the leaves, while the soldier was dispatching a second. I took its head without thinking, and then made a crater where its face should have been. I followed this by blowing an extra hole in the head of every arach corpse I could see. It reminded me of what they’d said about Delight’s team: “They’re just so used to making sure that it’s become second nature for them to put an extra round into the head of any corpse they see.”
Now, I understood why.
“You can fight at my side, anytime.” The soldier’s words broke my concentration, as I searched for another corpse, before scanning the tree branches overhead, and the bushes nearby.
I had no reply for him, but I managed a nod, and we made it back to Mack and the rest of Skymander’s force without incident. I stopped beside Mack, and the soldier stopped beside me.
“Looks like you got a fan,” Mack said, and I blushed.
“She saved our backsides,” the soldier said, and it sounded like a correction.
Before Mack could reply to that, Master Manreiden’s voice came over the comms.
“Hazerna have been compromised. Lady Skymander’s orders are to capture any Hazerna we encounter going forward...” He hesitated. “When possible. Our lady would not have us die needlessly. Survival, then prisoners.”
“Survival, then prisoners,” the men confirmed.
“As for the arach, my Lord and Lady say kill them all.”
“Skymander,” came in confirmation, and I wondered how a lord’s name could have become a battle blessing.
My wondering was cut short, as the commander pulled us together, and briefed us on the next phase of the battle.
“Scans show the arach have a ship here, and have set their headquarters. This is where the Odyssey team were taken when they attempted to rescue the Corovani lords from the arach infiltration unit. Andreus Corovan’s preparations, however, had been exceptionally thorough.”
He kicked one of the nearby corpses. “As of now, we are aware that Clan Hazerna has been compromised. The Skymander’s Lady Hazerna will be assisting the existing leadership to weed out any other traitors, as soon as we’ve secured the Corovan center. Our Lord Skymander is returning with Ghost to deal with the Hazerna center.”
“Skymander,” came in a soft chorus, around me, and I shivered at the worship in its depths.
We moved shortly afterwards, each team with a clear objective. Mack and I had been assigned to the one taking out the arach ship.
“Do not let it launch,” were the instructions, followed by, “Kill everything on board; arach give nothing in interrogation.”
Well, that answered the question why, and I wasn’t averse to killing arach. At least, that’s what I told myself, as fear sent icy coils through my gut.
“Odyssey are coming,” Master Manreiden said, through our comms. “Work with them, but do not stand in their way.”
It seemed a strange order for the commander in charge of an operation to be giving, and then he added a single sentence that explained it all.
“Their commander is Pritchard.”
Oh. Oh, fuck. Pritchard was as protective as hell of his Delight.
Even as I thought it, we broke cover of the trees, and the arach ship was before us. It wasn’t huge, but it wasn’t a small ship, either, and I wondered how such a thing would find the energy to make orbit.
“No-one’s worked it out,” Mack told me. “We need to try and take the ship intact.”
Well, that should be simple enough.
“You’d be surprised.”
Considering the very little I knew about the arach, no. No, I probably would not.
We came out of cover at a run. There was no time for stealth, and none of us thought they hadn’t seen us coming. The only mystery was why they were still on the ground. It begged the question as to what the arach knew that we did not.
“Let’s go find out,” said the voice of my soldier, and I felt my spirits lift.
Yes. Let’s.
We made it half-way across the ground before the first turret opened fire.
They had ground cannon?
Damn.
“On it.” Tens.
Even as he spoke, I watched silver shimmer under the belly of the ship, and knew Odyssey’s team had arrived. They were under the cannons’ arc, and wasted no time in taking the fire ports out. Honestly, I’d never seen a mine used quite that way, before, but this was Odyssey... and it was Pritchard. Neither could be considered conventional—and Pritchard had been around Delight for far too long.
“Not long enough,” and what the fuck was he doing in my head.
“Looking for Delight.”
I had just enough time to wonder how he was going to do that using my head, when he uncovered Delight’s link to me.
“Get your ass over here.”
“I...” but Mack grabbed me on one side, and the soldier grabbed me on the other, and we ran for the silver figure heading up the ramp.
Why silver? I mean... didn’t that make them easy to hit?
“You’d be surprised.”
Not now, I wouldn’t.
With the cannons taken out, the Skymander troops closed up around us, and we took the boarding ramp—and why had that been down?—at a run. The fighting started as soon as we hit the door.
“Find Delight,” Pritchard ordered. “Mack and Tenravin will keep you from falling.”
They would? And since when did Pritchard know about my little problem with not being able to keep tabs on the outside as well as the inside? Also, it was nice to know the soldier had a name.
“Shut up and work.”
Fine. Bossy as hell didn’t even come close.
I didn’t wait for a response to that, but dove into the link Pritchard had revealed, working my way back along it, until I had located Delight.
“Tens?”
“Got it,” he said. “You can come out, now.”
“Yes, and hurry.”
Well, that sounded like trouble, if ever I heard it.
I traced the link back to my own head, and came back to a battle raging all aro
und me. Mack and Tenravin were standing back to back, with me sandwiched in between. Around them, Pritchard, Odyssey and Skymander’s men were keeping the arach at bay. Of forward progress, there was none.
“I’m here,” I said, and the fight changed.
With a shout, the circle broke, with the troops advancing and killing as they went.
“Skymander, this way,” pulled my soldier away with his comrades, as they fought their way forward, towards the ship’s control center.
“Odyssey, with me,” dragged our silver allies aft.
Mack and I went with them. Delight was as much one of ours as any Odyssey operative could be, and we owed her. If I hadn’t known any better, I might have thought Mack considered her one of the crew.
“Shut it, Cutter.”
We followed Tens’ path to where Delight was being held. The fighting was bloody and close, and the arach came from every corridor and doorway. Odyssey troops diverted right and left, coming back within minutes, the silver of their suits coated in green and yellow ichor. Some came back smeared in black.
Delight was being held in a cell crammed with other operatives.
“We’re incubating,” she whispered when Pritchard reached her. “You need... to hurry.”
Pritchard said nothing, but every Odyssey agent in the cell vanished in a swirl of silver, leaving Mack and I entirely alone.
Fan-fucking-tastic.
“Here they come,” Mack said, as shadows filled the doorway.
We changed energy clips, and started firing.
“Tens?”
“Sorry, Mack. We’re out of range. Three arach ships came through the point, and we’ve been ordered to pursue. Skymander extends his thanks, and has added the cost of borrowing the ship to your invoice.”
That was quite some tab Skymander was building up.
Mack said nothing, but I knew he wasn’t pleased. It’s just we didn’t have time for cussing. There were too many arach. We were holding them at the door, but that wasn’t going to last. Sooner or later one of them was going to get the bright idea of...
Yup, that would do it.
Mack and I split apart so we could get a clear shot at the arach using one of his dead friends as a shield. He couldn’t turn his cover to face both of us, so we dropped him with a few feet to spare. Unfortunately, the idea caught on, and they came through too fast for us to clear one, before the next came through, and they gave each other cover as they came. I started wishing for a second blade.
Mack and I left it too late to come back together so we could fight back to back. We ended up in two separate corners, each fighting our own battle. I don’t think I’ve ever been so glad to hear the sound of gunfire in my life, but that didn’t mean we could relax. Now, it was a matter of surviving until the shooters could reach us.
“Get down!” came through our implants none-too-soon, and Mack and I dropped to the floor as one.
It was a good thing there were so many arach between us and the door, because I’d have hated to see what would have happened if we hadn’t had that much cover. The pack of bodies, combined with the shelter of the bodies of those we’d already killed, protected us from the sudden burst of light and shredding shards that filled the room. It didn’t stop us from being covered in enough ichor and innards to last us a lifetime.
“You all right?” Tenravin.
Honestly, I didn’t know whether to kiss or kill him.
“I’m good,” the soldier replied. “A simple thank you will suffice.”
And I caught a glimpse of what I looked like covered in bits of arach.
“Charming,” Mack said, as I lost the breakfast from far too long ago.
Tenravin laughed.
“You might have cleared it away from your mouth, but I’m still not kissing you.”
I gave him a very silent finger, and then headed for the door. Redecorating the cell was going to be a bitch.
“Ship secured,” the Skymander team leader said, once we’d checked every compartment, room, corridor, and vent shaft we could reach. “All crawlers eliminated.”
I wished I could be as sure. If he heard that thought, the team leader ignored it as he turned towards us.
“Our Lord Skymander thanks you,” he said. “You are to wait with us, until our ships have returned.”
He wrinkled his nose.
“Let us pray they will not be long.”
38—Contracts & Opportunity
The Skymander team lead’s hopes were answered, and I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to ported, anywhere, as then. We were back on board the Shady Marie in a lot less time than it took for the arach splatter to start to stink—and under the showers shortly after.
Doc insisted we use the ones in med bay to make sure we hadn’t picked up anything while on the arach ship, and Tens brought us both a change of combat armor and under garments.
“Skymander requests your presence at your earliest convenience,” he told us, and I guess Mack interpreted that the same way I did, because we were both in the control center, five minutes later.
Skymander was pleased.
“I have awarded bonuses for completion,” he said, “...or I will, as soon as you hand over the files and serum you promised. My shuttle will arrive shortly.
It arrived as he spoke, and Tens supervised its docking, having one of Mack’s security teams escort Doc and the serum to meet the Skymander envoy in the shuttle bay.
“You are welcome aboard,” Doc told him, as Mack and I watched the meeting on a secondary screen. Skymander waited patiently on the main screen, although I was certain he, too, watched the exchange, right down to when his men verified the serum for what it was.
“Thank you, but we are under orders to return in time shortest,” the envoy said, and Doc stepped back.
“If that is all?”
“Thank you, Doctor,” and the envoy wheeled about and returned to the shuttle.
Doc and the security team retreated to the observation deck, and watched as the shuttle left.
“Thank you,” Skymander said. “The files have arrived, and are confirmed complete.”
“We have no need of them,” Mack said.
“Please go over the final contract and invoice,” Skymander said. “There are some points of negotiation, and I am available for the next half day standard.”
“Thank you,” Mack said. “I will be in touch to render approval or negotiate as required.”
Skymander inclined his head, and cut the call. Mack breathed a big sigh of relief, and then looked around at the control center.
“You are dismissed,” he said. “There will be a meal in the caf, and we’ll debrief once I’ve finalized the contract.”
I left with Tens and Case, but we went our separate ways once we hit the corridor. For a moment, I felt at a loose end, but I headed for the caf, and food, figuring it might be a good idea to eat. After that?
After that, I didn’t know. Returning to my cabin had no appeal, so I figured I’d hit the rec room or gym. Maybe in that order, given I’d have a bellyful of food. It seemed like forever since I’d had any time of my own to kill.
“Don’t get used to it, Cutter.”
Yeah, whatever, Mack.
As it turned out, I’d just hit the rec room, when Mack called us back. He’d finalized the contract with Skymander, and was ready to debrief. That took a goodly part of the afternoon, but it was worth it.
After we’d gone over the mission details, Mack sent us the details of what we’d earned.
“Go over them before you hit your racks. Any disagreements, come and see me, soonest. We’ll sort them out.”
I nodded, pretty much lost for words. The numbers scrolling through my implant were... They were far more than I’d expected.
I turned the figures over in my head, as I headed back to the cabin, and then I verified them on the computer. It was no surprise to find an Odyssey invoice waiting in my in-box. Delight didn’t let any grass grow under her feet. The miss
ion was over, and I had the option of knocking down some of the debt, provided I paid it off in the next four hours.
When I compared what I’d been credited against what I owed, I could have cried. Between the payments from Skymander, the bonus from the Hazernas, Odyssey’s multiple bonuses for contract completion, retrieving Delight, assisting Pritchard, and its compensation for injury, amongst other things, I had enough to pay out every single cent of the Odyssey debt, including the extra penalties I’d incurred.
The only thing was, that once I did, I’d have nothing left. My solvency would consist solely of what I had in my locker and on my back. On top of that, if I paid Odyssey out, I’d have nowhere to stay, no work, and no way of finding any. I pushed myself away from the desk, and Delight’s impatient email.
I didn’t want to answer it. I knew the deadline loomed, but I didn’t want to just pay a portion of it—and I couldn’t pay it all. Once I started the next round of training, I’d been in debt, again, and who knew how long it would take to put the credit together to pay that out? The last spate of missions we’d had, they had to be an aberration, right?
I mean, that’s not a tempo any company can hope to keep pace with, right? Too much wear and tear on its agents. Too much of a drain on equipment and resources, not to mention that every single mission seemed to unearth yet another problem. The last few weeks had been like playing with a many-headed hydra full of trouble. Wasn’t hard to figure out that that couldn’t last. Knowing my luck, I’d be stuck in a quiet patch after this, and the debt would return to the monumental heights it had reached before.
I wasn’t ever getting out from under. It made me want to weep. To be so close to freedom, and yet so very, very far away. I didn’t want to pass up the chance, but I didn’t want to... I don’t know. I mean, what would Mack do, anyway? It wasn’t like he’d toss me out the nearest airlock. Cold-blooded murder wasn’t quite his style.
And therein lay the dilemma. I didn’t want to owe Mack—not in the same way I owed Odyssey. I wanted to choose my own path. I wanted... I sighed. I couldn’t win, either way, and I was just going to have to knuckle under, and do as Odyssey bid. It wasn’t like I could hold them off until I got to the next port. Delight’s email was very explicit regarding when the payment was due, and when the next payment could be made.
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