"We're ready, Sergeant" Parkins had opened and armed the phasing switch.
I covered the mike for a second. "Thanks, Parkins." I spoke back into the headset. "Keep your powder dry, dogs! Let's go get our people back!" As inspirational speeches go, it was pretty lame. But I meant it.
"Phasing ... five ... four ... three ... two ... one ..." I felt the familiar dryness in my throat and eyes as the phase field permeated every molecule of the craft and our bodies. We were in a deep jungle canyon, so rather than try negotiating it, we just accelerated while phasing. To me, it looked like a mishmash of rock and earth, with occasional patches of near normal lighting and plant life as we scooted in and out of the twisting canyon passages. Parkins seemed to find some sort of order though, because he calmly made several minor adjustments, then abruptly pushed forward on the yoke. The craft dove and blended with the rock and we were on our way, cutting through the planet at close to 18,000 kilometers per hour. If all went well, we'd have Aaron and Susie and the rest of the Third back in forty-five minutes.
Needing to kill time, and wanting to monitor Jody's conversations with Moss, I activated the terminal, staying outside the puterverse, but listening in. Kiki was waiting for me.
"Hiya, Abby!" Always the bouncy one, was my Kiki.
"Hey, Kiki! How's Mike?" Ever since Chris had nailed him with a PTC virus, Mike had been slow to recover. He worsened all the time that I did, and only now seemed to be getting back to normal. He and I were somehow linked. As I fared, so did Mike.
"Ask him yourself!" She seemed quite pleased, as she should be. I was all but useless after our botched attack on Chris, so Kiki nursed him back to health, making heavy use of the duplicate coding of Mike I stored in secure locations. How many times have you been told? Always keep good backups. Because I did, Kiki was able to sustain Mike through multiple trinary transfusions.
"Mike?" I asked excitedly. At least, I was excited inside. Because of the phasing, it sounded more like I was a gigawatt short of a full charge.
"Hey, kid!" Mike's abrasive, sharp voice sounded like a choir of angels. "'Bout time we got on our feet, huh? Not too smart, leaving everything in the pixie's hands. Ow! Hey, knock it off!" I couldn't see into the puterverse while phasing, but I could easily imagine Kiki punching him.
"I'm not a pixie, you jerk! I'm almost as tall as Abby now!" Which was true. Since the attack, Kiki had begun taking on a more normal size, perhaps to better work with us, but I had a suspicion it was to better appeal to Mike. In the slang of my early life, these two were becoming an item.
"Knock it off, you two. You can beat each other's brains out after the snatch. Kiki! How's the place look?"
"Chris just tipped them off, and they're on alert, Abby. There's a total complement of six officers, eighty-six enlisted, twenty-three of them in sick bay." She paused then spoke with uncertainty. "Twenty-three? That can't be right. There must be some sort of epidemic there."
"Yeah," said Mike dryly. "An epidemic of laziness. Units with low morale normally have high sick call numbers, and prison camp guards aren't exactly cream of the crop, even for NATech. You'll pick up the finer workings of raid planning with practice, Kiki." He actually sounded like he cared.
"Uh-oh, Abby! The Melbourne garrison is also responding. Chris just scrambled them, and they'll be on the move in ten minutes."
"Bet you a dollar they won't be, Kiki," I mumbled quietly. And tiredly. Ultrahigh speed phasing really beat on a person my age, making me feel like five times my age.
"I'm not taking that bet! That's why Sergeant Moss will be hitting them in five minutes. That's great timing!" she said admiringly. "How did you know, Abby?"
"Like Mike said, practice. Hey, guys, I'm getting pretty ragged out. Sorry I can't spend more time. Kiki, give your reports and updates to Jody. I'll talk to the both of you after the raid, but Mike? I could use a partner during the raid. Are you up to it?"
"Nah, Abby, I'm not. I'm just a sucked dry dweeb without an ounce of energy." he said sarcastically. "Geez! Why don't you gouge out my eyes, too? Of course I'm ready!" I heard a few clicks in my headset as he switched over. He laughed loudly in my ear, making me wince. "Are you ready for me?"
"Probably not. I'll just have to lower my standards, I guess." I heard Kiki's laugh in the background. "Wish us luck."
"Good luck, Abby!" Kiki called out.
"You don't need luck," Mike whispered seductively in my ear. "You've got me."
I grinned and signed off. He was definitely on the mend. I checked the timer, set the PDQ charge to first out, then took a nap. It wouldn't help much, but in combat I take any and all advantages.
I'd no sooner closed my eyes than it seemed they were open. A glance at the timer told me I'd dozed for ten minutes, meaning it was show time. The loud chime that punched clean through my head emphasized the point. Mercifully, it was a short blast.
"You awake, Abby?" Jody's voice called to me.
"Just now, Jody. Status." I felt myself giving way to my beast. The thrill of combat began to drive the pounding of my heart, and the excitement ran like a field of electricity just above my skin. Jody seemed a little taken aback by my serious tone, but adjusted to it fairly quickly.
"Jack started his front assault one minute ago. We're coming up underneath the minefield. Moss has tied up the Melbourne garrison, but they're starting to withdraw to reinforce the compound here. We go hot in just under three minutes."
"Acknowledged. Arming PDQ." I flipped through the switches on my left console and activated the power supplies located in each of the eight chairs my dogs and I were in. Each one had a micro phase unit for Phased Deployment Queue tactical attacks. When triggered, the phased chair shot through the hull, deploying the dog into immediate combat formation while the hov maintained attack speed. If in the air, which was almost always the case, the chair's micro power supply had enough reserve to activate the emergency restraint field around the occupant, allowing for a survivable landing. If deployed underground, there was a small booster to lift the chair and occupant free before release. This was the more dangerous tactic. Although you were protected from enemy fire until the last instant, if the on-chair gyro were damaged, or you PDQed too deep, it made for a mighty short combat tour, complete with nasty ending, when the phase unit drained the power pack and you became one with Mother Earth.
The forty-second chime sounded, bringing me back to the here and now. I banged out the final authorization codes for phased deployment, snapped the safety off on my slug gun, then settled in. About twenty minutes later, the forty seconds were over and the deployment klaxon sounded.
The port in the front of the hov snapped from muddy, half-seen black to crystal clear black with stars, and the ERF kicked in, jamming me to the chair. It was a good acronym for the emergency restraint field; that's the exact sound you make when it crushes the air out of your lungs. The chair jarred violently to the left and suddenly the stars were all around me as I and the chair cleared the hull.
The view was beautiful, but brief. The gravgyro woke up and righted the chair at the same moment the phase and ERF fields clicked off. Exposed to the environment, I felt the chilly wind whipping around me as I plummeted to the ground less than two hundred meters below. I had perhaps five seconds of free fall before the ERF activated again to protect me from impact. As rapidly as possible, I looked all around me, assessing the scenario.
Beacons from the chairs showed all fifteen of my people. They were all above me, except Scott, the platoon leader in the other PDQ hov. The hovs had come out of the ground in near vertical flight, allowing for tight grouping on the ground without piling us on top of one another. There always remained the chance of a chair landing on you, but no-one ever guaranteed war was a safe game. I looked back up in the sky.
The two attack hovs had already broken formation and were swooping around for strafing runs, their ion exhaust trails painting the sky with the lightest of brush strokes. Unlike the hov that Susie and I had wrecked in Glendale,
these compact, rugged ships were very maneuverable and quick in sustained flight. Only lightly shielded, they relied on a good pilot and their three forward rapid-fire lasers to keep them healthy. It helped that the ion exhaust from their high-powered engines magnetized the atmosphere slightly, keeping the area blocked from microsat observation. The PDQ hovs were the reason we could even attempt a mission this big. They'd do fine. I looked down.
There was extensive combat to my left, and blackness on my right. Directly beneath me was also black, black ground. Good, I thought gratefully. I hated going through a building. You either got caught above the floor, or the ERF kicked on and off so much as it hit the roof, ceiling and at least one floor, that all you were good for when you got free of the chair was crawling around on your hands and knees, making a mess of the floor with your most recent meal.
The ground was coming up fast, so I drew my gun and sat back. The ERF kicked in and suddenly I was on the ground. It was great not having your spine liquidated when you instantly went from 180 kilometers per hour to zero. But it was very disorienting not feeling anything, too. I'd been doing quick deployment with an ERF field for almost three years, and I was still thrown off by the change. The ERF field dropped a final time, the chair straps popped free, and I rolled off the chair to my right, using it as a shield.
I needn't have bothered. No one was paying any attention to us, they were so caught up in the fight they were already in. Takari and Marcy were doing a great job, but it was still sloppy of Forncheth's troops to leave the backdoor this wide open.
There were a lot of thumps in the night as the chairs slammed into the ground around me. I knew I was safe where I was, but I didn't want to stay where I was. The sooner this battle was engaged, the sooner it was over, the beast told me, and I agreed. Looking up to see where the chairs were coming down, I rose to my feet and moved rapidly toward the building that protected us somewhat from the center of the battle line. I motioned my arm for everyone to follow me and took the lead.
By the time I'd made the building, all sixteen of us were grouped, with Corporal Gallen at my right. I expected the building to be the commandant's quarters and it was. I looked back over my shoulder and could make out the dimly illuminated, unmanned towers located on the northeast and southeast corners of the compound. Again, Forncheth was being sloppy. Just because the prisoners were under suppression during the night was no excuse to leave the towers unmanned. They were too good an attack point for whoever controlled them. He'd think of it soon, too, so they had to go.
"Corporal, take out those towers first. Four for each tower, then back here in three minutes. Go."
He moved off, splitting his group, leaving me with my seven troops. I could make out their faces in the backwash of the explosions. Eyes bright and guns at the ready, they were eager, but untested. The ones who lived the night would be real dogs.
"Okay. We're looking to strip off their flanks and split their force. Make it fast, keep low, and keep advancing. The transports will be here in four minutes. Stay near each other, but not close. I don't want a puncher to take out more than one." They looked nervously at each other. As well trained as they were, they were only now realizing this was for keeps. Some of them might not be going home.
Leaving them with that thought to keep them on their toes, I ran around the side of Forncheth's quarters, stopping at the corner closest to the fight. I hitched an eye around.
The combat was going well. Forncheth had crowded his men too closely, and they were in each other's way, able to bring only a fraction of their firepower to bear. They were divided into two groups, Forncheth and about fifty grunts, and a smaller pocket of fifteen closer to us. All four hovs were coming across the lines, enfilading them with coordinated strafing runs. Though they did little real damage to Forncheth's entrenched position, it was making it warm for them. I could probably have just watched and done nothing, that's how well Takari and Marcy were doing. But that wasn't what I joined up for.
I swept a hand in advancing motions, pointing out cover at various points forward of our position. "We're going to take the smaller group. Head out there in twos, constant firing. DON'T wait for a target to show, just fire. First, though," I jerked a thumb at the building, "you two in the back, Zollers and Akagi, punch this out. Let's MOVE!"
I broke into a run, directly toward the nest. They were so absorbed in the front that it was five seconds before I was spotted, and even then the shock of our full-tilt advance gave me another two seconds before they reacted. By then, I had closed to twenty meters, closer than I thought I'd get. I border shifted my energy gun to my right hand, then yanked out my slug gun. By that time, one of the soldiers had whipped his slug gun around to fire.
I hesitated just a fraction of time to make sure my shot was good, so he fired first. It spattered dirt onto my boots as the slug drove into the ground under my feet. I squeezed off my shot and he dropped. Not waiting for more targets, I rapid-fired four more times, then dove behind a covered pile of metal parts. I was joined by two others, Brachmann and Vetter.
"Both of you, pull out a puncher and set to practice mode, proximity detection at five meters. Kelly, you're first. Throw it straight up about three meters when I tell you to." I switched to headphones. "Mike, I'm stuck here for a few seconds. Guard my ass, will you?"
"And a pretty ..." He cut off at my growl. "You got it. I'm patched through to all four hov's now, and have a solid image."
"Good." There was a double explosion as Forncheth's place went up and the southeast tower came down. They were joined about two seconds later by the northeast tower. I saw some flashes at ground level where they hit. There were some NATech men over there, after all.
"Gallen. Report."
"We're just fine, Sergeant. Gimme another thirty ..." A tone went off in the set.
"Vetter, NOW!" I yelled. The tone meant someone had armed a puncher and was just about to lob it at us.
Kelly started at my yell, then lobbed her puncher into the air. The three of us covered our ears and opened our mouths to avoid a wicked headache.
Her puncher exploded, making our ears pop. The concussion thudded hard against our bodies, and I heard them both grunt. I rose to a crouch and waited for the explosion as their puncher, blown back by the concussion, went off in their faces.
There was a flash and deafening thunderclap and I was on my feet. I caught a bit of the blast, but not enough to affect me. I covered the last twenty meters at a dead run. I could see some of the soldiers at Forncheth's site begin firing toward us. Several screamed as our return fire found some marks.
I had covered half the distance to the nest when three of them stood up, dazed but still dangerous. I could have taken two with my slug gun, but maybe not three. I brought up the energy gun, set at sonic inducer. Even in the confusion of battle, a dozen things racing through my mind and four dozen people wanting me dead, I still appreciated the grim irony of using a sonic inducer on the soldiers who had used a similar technology on my friends.
The gun kicked slightly from the plasma recoil, and became very warm. The air in front of me shimmered and warped, distorting the faces of my three targets. Since I was still running at them, I was less than ten meters from them, closer to five. Even standing behind the gun, I felt a twinge of pain in my head and ears. The effect on the three soldiers in front of the gun was devastating.
The one on the right started jerking uncontrollably, throwing up all over himself. The one on the left suddenly dropped her gun and began clawing at her eyes, screaming with pain and delusional terror. But the middle one received the brunt of the charge, and his was the worst reaction of all.
He dropped his gun and stood there -- to remain standing the last ever command his mind had given his body. I brought up my slug gun and took out the two flanking him, and he did nothing. He was completely oblivious to everything around him. Something inside me, a voice or sense I had gained from Princess, told me that he was no longer human. His body was alive, but his mind
was dead. Like the things that were grown at the NATech physiomanufacturing plants, he'd become a soulless lump of flesh, the way my body had been before I moved in. Though his vacant stare was drained of emotion, intelligence, or even self-awareness, the glassy eyes reflected perfectly the horror of what man could do to his fellow man when profit ruled motivation, and ambition was used as a conscience.
Now, however, was not the time for such musings. I vaulted over the low barricade and scrambled for some punchers. Finding five, I armed and tossed all of them in the direction of Forncheth. They detonated and I risked a quick peek over the lip of the barricade.
It was over. I had clearly over-planned the attack. I hadn't expected top shelf resistance from a prison camp brigade, but they should have put up more of a fight than this. A small warning bell sounded in my head, and I let it keep ringing. I'd learned long ago to listen to my instincts, and this new insight I'd received from my trigger persona seemed to enhance and sharpen it.
The headset snapped in my ears and Gallen's voice came on.
"Sergeant?" he asked cautiously. It was then that I remembered I'd put him on hold.
"Sorry about that, Scott. Things got hot here for a few seconds. Report."
"We've secured the area, and taken down both towers. We're moving in to the prisoner barracks after we make a final sweep."
"Do the final sweep, but stay out there, on your toes. I've got a hunch we're not done yet."
"Will do." The headset clicked off just as Jody walked up. She had stayed on board our hov to man the lasers and keep an eye on all of us.
Final Book Page 13