Triumphant

by Jack Campbell

  “If some from our side start shooting at us, shoot back,” the lieutenant emphasized. “That’s our only chance. From this point on, the enemy is whoever is trying to stop us or kill us.”

  They left the building through an intact side door, moving quickly across the street there, feeling horribly exposed in the light of day, and then inside what was meant to be a covered shopping arcade. As they walked through the never-occupied arcade, dimly lit by dirty skylights, down wide aisles between rows of empty shops, Carmen watched her guides, seeing their nervousness increasing the farther they got into what should be friendly territory for them. Obviously the talk about their own side shooting at them had been real and not some theater meant to mislead her.

  The arcade ended, the corridor opening into a wide courtyard with tall buildings looking down at it from all sides. Hallways stretched out to either side until ending at doors that hung agape. In front of Carmen’s group, high openings intended to hold windows looked out onto the courtyard. The commander of Carmen’s escort stopped. Visibly worried, the lieutenant knelt to study the patchwork of weeds and paving they’d have to cross to reach the other side. “Where’s Cortez?” he whispered irritably.

  “He oughta be over there,” one of the other enemy soldiers whispered in reply, gesturing straight across the courtyard.

  “He knows he’s supposed to show himself, right?”

  “Yessir.”

  “Damn.”

  Before the lieutenant could say anything else, a low call sounded across the open area. “In the building. Come on out.”

  “Damn, damn, damn.” The lieutenant gestured silently to the other two enemy soldiers to take up positions looking each way down the hallway. Only when they were ready did the enemy officer reply to the hail, his hands clenching his rifle nervously. “Who’s out there?”

  “Captain Perion. I know it’s you, Lieutenant Haldane. Come on out.”

  Lieutenant Haldane glanced back at Carmen, then faced the courtyard again. “How do I know you’re Perion?”

  The reply sounded impatient. “We know what you’re doing. If you want to live, turn over the hostage.”

  Carmen heard a very low gasp that sounded like despair and laughter mixed come from Lieutenant Haldane.

  The lieutenant licked his lips before calling an answer. “How about if you want to live, Captain? How much longer do you think it’ll be before they close in on the last of us?”

  “That’s not my call, Lieutenant. Not yours, either. We hold out until the reinforcements get here.”

  “There aren’t any reinforcements coming! Do the soldiers with you know that, Captain Perion?” Haldane called louder. “Do they know that we’ve got only a couple of weeks max before we’re all out of ammo and the locals have us at their mercy?”

  “Shut up, Lieutenant! If you turn traitor you’ll die a traitor’s death!”

  “I’d rather fight for a chance to live! Why are you so eager to die for the bosses on Apulu who left us hanging here? Don’t you want a chance at life?”

  “The locals don’t take prisoners, you fool! It’s fight or die.”

  “Yes, they do!” Haldane shouted back. “The bosses lied!”

  “Last chance, Lieutenant Haldane!”

  “Go to the bottom of Marineris and rot there!” Haldane yelled, his voice echoing through the empty courtyard. “I’m taking my last chance, and anyone with you should do the same! All of you! Shoot Captain Perion, come with me, and you’ll have a chance at life!”

  Carmen went flat on the dirty floor, expecting the eruption of shots that tore across the courtyard toward Haldane. The enemy lieutenant and his two soldiers fired back, fighting with the desperation of people who knew there was no place for them to run to.

  All she could do was lie there as shots tore holes in the walls, hoping that no one would fire grenades. There weren’t any energy bursts, confirming the reports of how low the invaders were on the power supplies for that kind of weapon. But a metal slug could kill just as surely, so Carmen found small comfort in that.

  One of the enemy soldiers near her jerked and fell, lying limp.

  Haldane cursed as his weapon clicked on an empty magazine.

  The other soldier with them dropped his weapon and stood up, arms spread wide, as several other enemy soldiers came charging down the hallway, their weapons covering Lieutenant Haldane, the surviving soldier, and Carmen.

  The man who must be Captain Perion walked forward, holding a pistol. He shot Haldane’s surviving soldier who’d surrendered, then raised the weapon toward Haldane.

  Carmen, knowing that she’d be next, snarled at the captain, “Idiots! If you kill him and me, you’ll all die! You’re being given a chance to surrender! Don’t throw it away!”

  Captain Perion’s arm swung so his pistol centered on Carmen. “You lie. And you’ll be dead before we are.”

  CHAPTER 8

  The crash of a shot made Carmen flinch. It took her a moment that seemed much longer to realize that no slug had torn into her, that the shot hadn’t come from Captain Perion’s pistol, that it was Perion who staggered sideways with an expression born of fury and then fell as more shots fired by some of the captain’s own soldiers rang out and slammed into him.

  Carmen inhaled a ragged breath, waiting as Lieutenant Haldane and the enemy soldiers looked at each other.

  “Your orders, sir,” one of the new soldiers finally said.

  Haldane grinned, baring his canines. “Come on. We have to get her to the rendezvous site.”

  “There’re blocking forces set up between here and Command Bunker Sigma.”

  Lieutenant Haldane smiled wider. “They heard that, did they? That was disinformation. We’re taking her to Alternate Command Center Gamma.”

  “Gamma?”

  “I know where it is. Just follow me.”

  “Lieutenant,” Carmen said, “how do we know this isn’t a trick, too? To get you to take them and me to where the general and the colonel are waiting?”

  Haldane hesitated before holding out his hand. “Give me your weapon,” he told one of the new soldiers.

  That man hesitated as well, but then handed over the rifle.

  Lieutenant Haldane checked it, nodded, and then looked around. “Here’s what we’re doing. The hostage and me will bring up the rear so I can cover you. I’ll tell you where to go. Does anyone have any problems with that?” The glare that accompanied his challenge went to both the soldiers and Carmen.

  No one objected.

  The dead were left lying behind them. Lieutenant Haldane moved the group much faster now, almost running. Nobody objected to that, either, since they all knew the importance of getting clear of the area before anyone came to investigate the sound of a fight well inside enemy-held territory. Carmen did her best not to stumble, not to hesitate or lag or make any move that might cause nervous and rebellious enemy soldiers to twitch fingers on triggers of weapons.

  By the time the group halted at a heavy doorway, everyone was gasping for breath. Lieutenant Haldane had to take several deep breaths before he rapped at the door in a careful pattern of three, two, and three again.

  The door opened a slit. Nothing could be seen through the narrow opening but there was a sense of weapons at the ready just beyond, like the prickly feeling of danger surrounding a rickety stairway descending into darkness.

  Haldane gestured to Carmen.

  She nodded, wet her mouth, and spoke as calmly as she could. “Rainbow.”

  “Mountain,” someone said from behind the door.

  Carmen relaxed slightly as the door to the grandly named Alternate Command Center Gamma swung open. The building had been designed as some sort of secure facility, with strong walls and electronic shielding, the interior bare of decoration. Perhaps, ironically, it had been intended to service Kosatka’s government. What little portab
le equipment Carmen could see appeared to be military models of various ages and styles. She also saw more than a dozen enemy soldiers, including the male and female commanders who’d negotiated with General Edelman. “What happened?” General Idris demanded of Haldane.

  “Captain Perion almost nailed us,” Haldane explained in a rush. “These soldiers were with him, but turned on him.”

  “Then they’re with us,” the woman named Colonel Liu said. In person she was even more obviously a Red like Carmen, the executive tattoo under one ear standing out in the harsh light inside the command center. She looked Carmen over, eyes narrowed. “What mob were you?”

  “Eat dust and die,” Carmen spat in reply.

  Colonel Liu studied Carmen. “That accent. You’re not from anywhere near Mons.”

  “I’m from Shandakar,” Carmen said, knowing that would sting another Martian’s pride.

  “Shanda?” The female executive laughed mockingly. “I’m in debt to a Shanda!”

  “You were beaten by a Shanda,” Carmen said.

  The other’s eyes flashed with anger. “You still might not survive this.”

  “If I don’t, you don’t.”

  General Idris intervened. “We don’t have time for this. Lopez almost caught her before she got to us. He’s probably realizing that she didn’t try to reach Sigma and is trying to figure out where we really are. Let’s get going before he finds us.”

  The entire group started off at a rush, Carmen noticing that among those waiting in the command bunker were several hoisting expensive-looking luggage. The entire situation might be crumbling into chaos and their own troops shooting at each other, but these enemy commanders were going to make sure their personal baggage made it out safe.

  Outside, their route angled away from the path that Carmen and Haldane had come, Lieutenant Haldane staying close to Carmen as the group flitted through overgrown or barren spaces between empty buildings. At first she thought that was because he was afraid there’d be another attempt by loyal soldiers to stop her, but it gradually became apparent that Haldane was hoping she’d protect him.

  Maybe she would. If he hadn’t committed any war crimes. It was much easier to kill the enemy when they didn’t have faces, when they were just vague figures without individuality. But she’d been around Haldane enough in just a short time to see him as a person.

  The group reached another enemy outpost, nearly twenty soldiers occupying it, those men and women gazing anxiously at their commanders who were clearly intent on leaving them behind. “We’ll transmit the surrender command when we’ve personally confirmed that it’s safe,” Colonel Liu assured them. “You’ll all be taken care of.”

  She turned to Carmen with a sadistic smile. “You first.”

  Carmen resisted the urge to slug the woman, instead turning to face outside, toward where Kosatka’s defenders were hidden among the buildings. Visible across the street was the elaborate entrance to the shell of a future large restaurant, the agreed-upon place for the two enemy officers to turn themselves over to Kosatka’s forces. Carmen couldn’t see any defenders, but she knew a lot of them were in place, concealed and wary of a last-minute betrayal from the enemy who had promised to surrender. Once she went into the open, she’d be between the itchy trigger fingers of friends ahead and enemies behind.

  Nerving herself, she stepped out, standing a moment with her arms held high and wide, taking a deep, calming breath, before beginning a slow walk toward where she knew her friends waited. Her heart hammered in her ears as she walked, making it hard to listen for faint sounds.

  The surrendering enemy came out behind her, crowding Carmen as they tried to push the pace, but she knew anything that looked like a rush might cause the nervous defenders to open fire. Carmen held her own steady walk despite the pressure she felt behind her, despite the growing fear that other “loyal” enemy soldiers might show up and open fire on those who were trying to surrender.

  Oddly, she also felt sick at betraying the enemy soldiers at that last strongpoint. They were being abandoned by their leaders, but didn’t know that yet. It felt strange to care more about the fate of those enemy fighters than their own leaders did.

  Carmen led the group through the ornate gateway and into an open plaza surrounded on three sides by galleries that were supposed to someday hold happy diners. Defenders finally showed themselves, weapons leveled. Carmen came to a halt as an officer called to those behind her, “Put down all of your weapons.”

  For a moment everything once again hung precariously balanced on the narrowest edge of trust and hope for survival. Lieutenant Haldane crouched to gently set down his rifle, before standing up again. The others followed in a rush until the plaza was littered with discarded weapons.

  “Follow me single file,” the officer ordered, heading for the main entrance to the building.

  Lieutenant Haldane gave Carmen an anxious look, so she nodded to him to do as he’d been told. “They won’t kill you,” she said. Holding his empty hands out, Haldane began following the Kosatkan officer.

  Carmen waited until all of the enemy soldiers had passed her, then went as well. Inside, more of Kosatka’s soldiers waited to search the surrendering enemy for weapons or taps or beacons before moving them on into an empty ballroom.

  General Edelman nodded in greeting to Carmen as she followed the last of the enemy soldiers into the ballroom. “Well done. Any problems?”

  “A few,” Carmen said. “But it all worked out.”

  “Transmit the surrender orders,” Edelman demanded of the two enemy commanders. “And give us the location where the remaining commanders of the enemy forces are.”

  “We’ll be happy to give you the coordinates of Field Marshal Lopez’s bunker. But first, are you guaranteeing our deal?” Colonel Liu demanded in turn.

  “You’ll be given good quarters and at the first opportunity allowed safe passage home,” Edelman said. “As agreed to. You know that we cannot guarantee how long it will be before a transport arrives in this star system again. But when it does, you’ll have priority to board it.”

  As the two commanders called in the surrender, Carmen slumped back against a wall, feeling her nerves jumping in reaction to the stresses so far this day.

  General Edelman came to stand beside her. “We’ve saved a few lives today, Captain Ochoa.”

  Apparently the general had decided to reward her with a formal military title. “It’s Citizen Ochoa, sir. Too bad saving other lives came at the cost of saving those two lives,” Carmen grumbled, glaring at the enemy commanders.

  “Maybe.” Edelman leaned close to whisper. “According to the intelligence reports I’ve seen, Apulu, Scatha, and Turan have agents in all the nearest star systems, working undercover.”

  “That’s right,” Carmen said. “We found out a lot about them in files we’ve captured from the invading forces. They’re at Catalan, and Eire, and other places.”

  “And those agents engage in what I believe are called active measures?”

  “Yes, General. The files indicate those agents engage in missions up to and including assassinations to further the interests of their star systems. What does that have to do with those two officers?”

  Edelman smiled, a thin, humorless expression. “I didn’t promise that what those two did, betraying their employers, wouldn’t be communicated to anyone along the routes of whatever transport they get toward their homes. What do you think those agents of our enemies will do if they learn two turncoat officers are passing through their star systems?”

  Carmen realized that she was also smiling, her teeth clamped tightly together. “That’s not too hard to imagine, General.”

  “I trust that Kosatka’s intelligence officers can put together proper messages using what is known about those enemy agents? Good. Those two may think they’re escaping from what they’ve done, but it’s going to fol
low them for as far as they manage to run. We promised not to imprison or prosecute them for war crimes. We made no promises to keep their actions secret from anyone else.”

  “You can be pretty merciless when you want to be, can’t you, General?” Carmen said.

  “I have no love for those who break faith with the men and women under their command.”

  Carmen saw Lieutenant Haldane watching her anxiously from across the room. “Are the others going to get humane treatment, sir?”

  “Yes. I promised that and I’m going to see to it.” Edelman sighed. “Who knows. Maybe some of them will decide this world is worth fighting for, instead of fighting against.”

  “Could we ever trust them?”

  He glanced at her. “Somebody asked me that about Reds. What do you think?”

  Carmen shrugged. “It depends on the Red.”

  “Exactly.” Edelman looked over everyone in the room. “When the history of Kosatka is written, these moments won’t have to be glossed over or hidden. Our descendants will be able to take pride in them. That’s important to me.”

  “I guess everyone worries about how they’ll be remembered.”

  “Not everyone,” the general said. “Those two who surrendered their troops to us? They’re not looking past their own deaths. They don’t care about the future, Captain Ochoa, because they won’t be there.”

  “You’re right,” Carmen said.

  “Oh? So sometimes you agree with your superiors?”

  She couldn’t help a short laugh. “Only when I have to. But, sir, it’s just Citizen Ochoa.”

  “If I want to call you a captain, I can,” Edelman corrected her. “I may call you Major Ochoa tomorrow, and if so, you are to accept it as your due.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  An officer came over to speak with the general, so Carmen walked to where Lieutenant Haldane sat against one wall, gazing ahead as if viewing a short and ugly future. He looked up when she stopped in front of him, gazing at her with wordless hope.

  She knelt down to look into Haldane’s eyes. “Why did you help this surrender happen?”