by Cary Caffrey
The gunship continued to climb, pulling up hard, rising, accelerating, the ground dropping sharply away. With one hand gripping the strut, Sigrid risked one look down and gulped at the sight of the world rushing away beneath her.
The pilot banked hard, rolling over and diving down. The maneuver threatened to rip the strut free from her grasp, but Sigrid held fast. Her world spun on its axis. It took all her strength to keep from slipping and falling back to Earth.
A surprised crewman looked down from the open side door. He stared at her, open mouthed, his gun held in his limp hand. Sigrid reached up, grabbed him by the collar of his flight suit, using him to haul herself up, before hurling the startled crewman out the open door. Four shots from her recoillesses took care of the crew manning the weapons pods. The door to the cockpit burst open; the copilot charged her, a pistol held in his right hand. Sigrid merely stepped out of his way, using the toe of her boot to help him along as he tumbled out to join his fellow crew.
The open cockpit door banged against the wall, swinging on its hinges as the Thunderhawk continued its desperate maneuvers, still hunting Suko below. Sigrid slipped into the vacated copilot's seat. The pilot turned to her, his face hidden behind his helmet and visor. He reached for his sidearm—but Sigrid was faster. Her hand plunged between his legs, searching for and finding the large lever. She pulled. Four explosive bolts blew away the canopy over his head; retrorockets under his seat fired. With a roar, the pilot was blasted free and clear. The gunship was hers.
Sigrid turned back to the controls. She was no pilot, but her Tactical Database supplied the information she needed. Thrust, lift, pitch—missiles!
Sigrid swung the craft over, diving back down toward the Earth and straight at the fleeing APC, straight at Harry Jones.
Rounds from the personnel carrier screamed up at her. Sigrid saw the flash of tracers, ducked as they splintered what was left of the canopy and shattered the bulkhead behind her, yet she did not veer off.
Pushing the thrusters to the wall, Sigrid dived. The APC was square in her sights. Eight missiles leapt from their pods, their contrails snaking toward the target. She didn't wait to watch. The Thunderhawk's large-caliber chain guns were armed and ready. Sigrid brought these to bear now, unleashing a stream of deadly ordnance. Harry Jones would not escape. Never again would he threaten her or her friends. And never would he be allowed to continue his experiments. Not on girls like her. Not on anyone.
The 40 mm cannon shells tore through the ablative armor of the APC, ripping its skin to shreds. And still Sigrid did not relent. More missiles leapt from their pods, bearing down on the helpless vehicle.
The APC erupted in smoke and fire. The explosion sent its rear end bucking up into the air. End over end the vehicle tumbled, rolling across the desert floor. By the time it came to a spinning halt, only a twisted hulk remained. Charred bits of metal and rubber littered the ground. Bodies.
Sigrid scanned. There were no signs of life.
Harry Jones was dead. Bernat Wereme was dead. It was over.
The alarm sounded from the control console, drawing Sigrid's attention. She saw the red light—then three more. All four of the Thunderhawk's engines failed at once. Sigrid cursed. So focused was she on her target, so unrelenting in her pursuit, she hadn't been aware of the damage to her own craft.
The troop carrier's nose dipped down, dropping like a stone, and Sigrid saw the desert floor rushing up to meet her.
Blast.
Reaching down between her legs, Sigrid gripped the yellow handle and pulled. Six Gs of acceleration crushed her against her ejection seat—mild compared to what she'd experienced riding the joy-rocket—but still enough to knock the wind from her lungs. She heard the pop of the parachute opening behind her, the tug as the fabric unfurled, catching air. Slowly, gently, Sigrid drifted down toward the ground. The Thunderhawk's landing was not nearly so serene. It nosed in hard, careening along the ground and leaving a long, smoldering trail of blackened earth in its wake.
Sigrid touched down softly. Nine bodies lay burning in what was left of the APC.
It was over.
Suko!
Sigrid scanned furiously, spinning a full 360 degrees around, searching until she saw it: smoke rising from a point nearly a kilometer away.
"No!"
Sigrid was off, sprinting, running back toward the rising smoke. For a heartbreaking moment, Sigrid heard nothing—then a crackle of static from her comlink.
"I'm… I'm here… I think."
"Are you all right? Suko, what happened?"
"Yeah. Yeah…I'm all right. But I'm afraid our ride's puckeroo."
"Stay there. I'm coming. I'll come to you."
There was a pause. "Sure. I'll wait here. Just…just need to rest a bit."
Sigrid ran—faster than she'd thought possible. Suko was hardly fine. She could hear it in her voice, see it in her telemetry. Her heart rate was elevated, and her blood pressure was dropping. Fast. She was going into shock.
"Suko—you're hurt!"
"Yeah, you could say that. I'm…I'm a little banged up."
"Hang on. I'm coming."
"…not going anywhere."
And then she saw her. Suko lay on the ground, propped up against what was left of the Longspur. The ground around her was stained red with blood. Suko's blood. From a hundred meters Sigrid saw the damage done to her leg—the shattered fibula, broken and thrusting through the shredded flesh of her calf.
But when she got closer, she saw that it was much, much worse.
Rushing to her side, Sigrid dropped to her knees, skidding in the earth. Suko's hand clutched her side; blood ran freely between her pressing fingers. Carefully, Sigrid moved her hand away, peeling back the torn shreds of her uniform to stare at the wide seven-inch gash in her abdomen. Sigrid ripped the med-kit from the clip at her waist. Biofoam sprayed from the small device coated the wound, cleaning and sterilizing it as well as feeding Suko a good dose of antishock. The foam worked quickly, already forming a hardened barrier, keeping more of Suko's insides from spilling out.
Sigrid placed both of Suko's hands over the hardening foam. "Push. Keep pressure on it."
And there was still the matter of her leg. Sigrid moved around, taking Suko's ankle in her hands. Using her own legs to brace Suko's, Sigrid pulled, gently but firmly, drawing Suko's leg straight. Her PCM registered Suko's heartbeat skyrocketing. Sigrid could only imagine the pain, but there was nothing for it, nothing she could do.
More foam sprayed from the med-kit lent support to Suko's shredded leg. But not enough, the kit sputtered in her hands, its supply of the vital foam depleted. It would have to be enough.
"Thanks," Suko said, finally risking a short breath, her eyes clamped shut. "My kit got broke in the tumble."
Sigrid barely heard her. Suko was bleeding internally, badly—too much for the nano swarms to compensate for, and her blood pressure was continuing to drop at an alarming rate. Even as she wrapped the pressure bandage around Suko's midriff, Sigrid knew Suko would need surgery, and soon.
While Sigrid worked to stabilize her, Suko looked past her over her shoulder. "Did we get him?"
"Yes, we got him, Suko. It's over."
Suko let her head collapse back against the Longspur. "Good. I'm glad. Maybe now we can have some peace." Suko blinked, her eyelids growing heavy. "Right now…I could really use some peace."
Sigrid held her hand. "We will. I promise. But right now…right now, we have to get you out of here. You need medical attention."
"It's nothing. I'll be fine. Feel better already." Suko laughed, but the laugh turned to a wheezing cough that only served to further rattle her insides.
Sigrid accessed her comlink. She needed the Morrigan. Now. "Trudy! Can you hear me? Leta?" She waited, but there was nothing. "Selene, please come in."
Only static answered back. Her PCM confirmed her fear: her signal was being blocked.
"Blast."
"What is it?"
"S
omething's happened," Sigrid said. "Something bad."
"But it's over. We got him"
"I know, but…Suko, I think they're in trouble."
Suko looked around, at the sprawling desert, the beating red sun rising above them from the east. "I hate to break it to you, but I think we're in trouble."
Sigrid placed her hand on Suko's cheek, a gesture she hoped was comforting. Her skin was cool. Clammy. Both Suko and herself were capable of dealing with a fair amount of trauma, but looking at her, Sigrid knew she would not survive out here for long.
They had to get out of here.
But where? New Shēnzhèn lay in the other direction, over a hundred kilometers distant. And considering she'd set a small quasi-nuclear device to explode in less than fourteen minutes, she doubted the authorities would welcome them with open arms.
It didn't matter; Suko would not survive the trip. There had to be another way.
From her waist pouch, Sigrid withdrew the compact blood filter and infusion lines, tearing open the sterile packaging.
"What do you think you're doing?" Suko asked, eyeing the equipment as Sigrid laid it out.
"You need blood, and you need it now. I'm going to give it to you."
"Sigrid, no."
"Don't be squeamish. It'll be just like in training. We've done this before."
"Sigrid…" Sigrid felt the hand grip her arm; the easy, jovial expression was gone from Suko's face. "Sigrid, you can't stay here. They'll be coming, and you know it."
"I'm not leaving you. And you know that. So keep quiet, and let me do this."
Suko pulled herself up, grimacing with the effort. "A transfusion's not going to do it. Check your scans if you don't believe me. Sigrid, you have to go while you still can. I told Lady Hitomi—"
Tears flared in Sigrid's eyes. "I don't care what you told her! I'm not leaving—and you're not going anywhere."
"Sigrid—"
"Not another word. Nothing. Now, shut up!"
Wiping her eyes and her nose on her sleeve, Sigrid bent to the task of prepping the transfusion. Reaching for the med-kit, Sigrid pressed it to Suko's arm, heard the device activate, whir, then saw the red light flash on its small screen. It refused to give any more painkillers, having already dispensed its maximum amount.
Suko looked to the device in Sigrid's hand. "No worries—stuff makes me nauseous. I'm crook as it is."
Sigrid forced a smile.
The med-kit held a tiny tube of compressed plasma. It was no larger than Sigrid's thumb yet carried a full two liters of the vital fluid. Sigrid only needed to administer the transfusion. The procedure was fully automated, the med-kit controlling and monitoring the flow, working both filter and pump.
There was nothing to do but wait. Sigrid slid down beside her, holding Suko in her arms. Only the sudden low rumble sounding in the distance drew her attention away—the bomb detonating. There was no flash, and only the smallest of mushroom clouds could be seen, roiling up into the morning sky, quickly becoming lost amongst the heavy layers of smog, thick and black.
The facility was destroyed. No more girls would be tortured here.
"You should take this." Suko lifted the katana in its saya, pushing it toward Sigrid.
"Take it? No. Of course I'm not going to take it. It was a gift."
"Sigrid, take it. I want you to have it."
"Stop talking like that. I won't hear it."
Suko shook her head—something that appeared to take great effort. "Check your scans."
Sigrid did. Suko's blood pressure was continuing to drop, her heart rate rapid and weak. The plasma cartridge was dry, empty. But it still wasn't enough.
Sigrid grabbed for the rig. "Then I'll give you my own."
Suko reached out; her fingers coiled weakly around hers. "No…you won't. There's nothing you can do, and you know it."
"Suko. Please. Don't talk like that."
"I'm not getting out of here. But you still can."
Sigrid felt the tears stream forth. She couldn't stop them. Just as she couldn't stop Suko's life from draining away.
"Suko… Suko, I don't know what to do. Tell me. Tell me, and I'll do it."
With the last of her strength, Suko pulled herself toward her, her eyes suddenly wide with urgency.
"Sigrid. Run!"
Sigrid leapt to her feet, spinning about. There was a new sound coming toward them—a sound she knew well enough. It was the sound of men and their machines of war. This wasn't coming from New Shēnzhèn, but from deep in the desert. The sound grew in volume, coming ever closer, the swell of dust rising into the morning sky.
She saw the Thunderhawks first. Four of them bearing down on her. Their missile pods sat locked in their firing positions. The heavy gunships were flanked by a squadron of T-48s, Starlings, flying escort. No less than fourteen APCs charged toward her. These were followed by what appeared to be an entire fleet of armored cars.
Major Tarsus's missing battalion.
Four strike-fighters streaked across the sky, their sonic booms threatening to shatter the earth around them.
Sigrid clipped the saya to the harness on her back, standing by Suko's side. They would not take her. They would not take Suko. And Sigrid would not run.
Never.
The Thunderhawks took position just above her; the T-48 Starlings circled like carrion birds, waiting to pick their bones clean. The APCs and armored cars formed a perimeter at one hundred meters. Sigrid heard the shouted orders of the platoon leaders as the vehicles disgorged their troops.
She calculated their strength at better than four hundred—all of them with their weapons leveled at her. Stepping forward, Sigrid placed herself between Suko and the oncoming soldiers. She queried her PCM, but her Tactical Database offered only one single course of action—the very same course that Suko begged her to take moments earlier. Flee. Survive.
Unacceptable.
Alone against an army, Sigrid stood her ground.
An officer climbed from the lead APC, striding toward them. Sigrid waited as he crossed the distance. Her hulking pearl-handled sidearms were in her hands—these she kept leveled at the officer's head. He stopped a good ten meters away, close enough for Sigrid to see the four diamond pips that adorned his epaulettes; he was ex-mercenary and a full colonel.
"Your friend is hurt," the colonel said, shouting to be heard over the roar of machines. "We can help her."
"You didn't come all this way to lend aid, Colonel."
"And I didn't come here to kill you, either. I've been told to take you alive, Ms. Novak. I don't see why that should exclude giving proper aid and medical attention."
"You're very kind, sir, but you'll forgive me if I decline."
"Speak for yourself." Suko winced at her side. "You're not the one with bits of bone sticking out. It bloody hurts—"
Sigrid hushed her with a wave of her finger.
"This is not an offer. Nor a request, Ms. Novak," the colonel said. "My orders are quite specific. I know what you are capable of. Believe me, I know. But I think even you can see I have the upper hand."
"Care to test that theory, Colonel?"
The colonel stared back at her. "If you will not come willingly, I will put you down."
Sigrid looked around, at the troops, the flock of Starlings circling, the APCs on all sides.
"You said your orders are to bring me in alive?"
The colonel nodded. "Yes, I have been so commanded."
"Then I will come with you."
"Sigrid—wait! No!" Suko grabbed Sigrid's arm hard. "No, you can't. Don't do it!"
Gently, Sigrid pulled her hand away. "It's all right, Suko. It's going to be okay."
"Seeg—"
"A wise decision, Ms. Novak," the colonel said. "There is no reason for more bloodshed."
He signaled to his men, but Sigrid raised her hand.
"On one condition, Colonel."
"What is your condition?"
"I will go with you, but you must let
my partner go free."
"Sigrid…"
The colonel looked at her, as if considering the request, then shook his head. "Your friend will die out here. Leaving her here won't save her."
"Then allow my people to tend to them. Take her to them. Do this for me, and I will come freely. I'll give you no trouble, Colonel. That is my bargain with you, and my condition."
"I think we both know that's impossible. My orders—"
"Your orders are to bring me in. Alive. But there is nothing in your orders that prohibits you from letting her go."
"Look around you, Ms. Novak. I have four hundred men here. I do not doubt your skill, but I seriously doubt you can defeat all of us."
Sigrid placed her sidearms back in their clips and took one step toward him. The colonel recoiled, taking half a step back. He cursed—he'd shown her weakness, and he knew it.
Sigrid smiled.
"You may be right, Colonel. I may not survive. But what about you? Do you think you will survive? What about your men? How many? One hundred? Fifty? Ten?"
"Ms. Novak—"
"They sent an entire battalion after me on Scorpii, Colonel. Did you know that? How many of them survived? I think you know the answer. I promise you this, if my friend is not escorted to safety immediately, if she does not survive, you won't leave this desert alive."
"My superiors will not be pleased—"
Sigrid looked about her. "Strange that they are not here to aid you in this, Colonel. Why do you suppose that is?"
The colonel chuckled, shaking his head. "You're an interesting young woman. I wish we might have met under different circumstances."
"The circumstances are what they are, Colonel. It is up to us to make do."
Slowly the colonel nodded. "Very well. I will agree to your terms. But you must agree to come with me."
He signaled his men to advance. One of the soldiers moved toward her with a set of binders in his hand. He took half a step, but no more, falling to the ground, where he clutched at the shuriken embedded in his throat. He gurgled once, spitting up blood, and died.
The colonel gaped at her; he hadn't even seen her move.
"Perhaps I didn't make myself clear," Sigrid said. "I said when my friend is safe. Until then, I'm afraid all bets are off."