"Something wrong, Abby?" she asked, having heard my exchange with Scott.
"I'm not sure, ma'am. Could be. This crowd was too easy. I love missions that are easy and hate ones that are too easy. I don't like it. We'd better bug out quick."
She had no reason to believe me other than my experience. Being a good officer, she counted that for a great deal. She nodded quickly and tapped the open circuit on her headset, giving her a channel to all personnel.
"Good work, gang, but it's not over. Prepare for an ambush. I want a split force, quad team scenario. Generate and hold the west and east perimeters. Scott, keep your teams on the east. Marcy, you hold the west. Takari, push the transport loading to maximum. Abby, you're the rover. All hov's ground and prepare -"
"No," I said, careful not to speak into the mike. "Keep 'em in the air, ma'am. When the attack comes, it'll be all out wicked, and the first few seconds will mean everything."
She considered briefly, then nodded. "Scratch that. Keep the hovs up and armed. You too, Gary. Put the lasers on auto, I'm staying on the ground. Bug-out scenario Yellow, thirty seconds after transport departure. Combat control to Sergeant Wyeth." She shut off the mike. "All yours, Abby."
We went over to Forncheth's hole, but there was nothing to learn from them, except maybe how brutal it was to be on the receiving end of five punchers. Forncheth was easy enough to identify; he was the smoldering lump with the colonel's insignia. I told Marcy to keep one quad here, then roam the perimeter with the second quad. Jody was making her way quickly to the prisoners barracks, located in the middle of the camp toward the north perimeter. A low, deep rumbling from that quarter indicated the arrival of the transports. I called my teams and ran for the wreckage of Forncheth's headquarters, my two quads falling in behind.
"Mike?" I shouted into the set.
"Yo!" he snapped back.
"We're loading the transports now. Run a full sweep of the area. This is going too easy."
"Will do. Hang on for a second. Checking. All clear for one-hundred kilometer sphere. All clear for two hundred ... three hundred ... everything's fine for five hundred, Abby. There's a bunch of traffic after that, none of it seeming to be aimed at us."
That wasn't right. "What about Sergeant Moss's detachment? And the NATech units in Melbourne?"
"They've followed our plan about right, Abby. Moss pulled out just after the attack began here, then circled around after drawing off the garrison attack hovs. He made a second attack, which drew the garrison hovs back to Melbourne, and Moss has engaged them in a withdrawal movement. He should disengage completely in three minutes."
It was all according to plan. The idea was to tell Chris we were hitting the prison camp, then hit the garrison at the Melbourne supply depot. Chris, having a devious mind and probably attributing the same thing to us, would assume I'd lied to him and that the attack here a feint and the Melbourne one real. When Moss pulled out, Chris would know I'd told the truth and commit his garrison to attacking us. Until Moss circled around, and then he'd think we'd either suckered him yet again or that we'd staged a dual attack, which was true. Since we knew, and he didn't, his indecision, aggravated by his emotional state, would give us enough edge to pull off both attacks despite the smaller force. It had worked for Lee eight hundred years ago, it would work for us. So why did I feel like I'd been the one who'd been suckered?
"Plant here, people. Use the wreckage for cover, but if the counterattack comes, everyone heads there on the double."
They were green, but they weren't scared. Everyone found a spot in the still smoldering wreckage, rifles up and charged. I felt a surge of pride. I hadn't trained them much - it was only three weeks since I'd been desharded (Did Princess have an insight when she called Miss DeChant by the name DeShard?) - but they were my dogs now. I hunkered down with them and waited.
Two minutes later, Jody came on through my private channel.
"Okay, we're almost complete, Abby. First one's loaded and leaving now. About ten more for the second. I'm going to clear the camp before phasing, though. No point in risking the phase mines when I don't have to. How's it look out there?"
"Quiet so far, ma'am. Maybe I was wrong. Either that or they're slow. Will you be starting personnel evac after the second transport leaves?" As I spoke, I noticed the first transport hov pulling out from behind the barracks and begin accelerating through the camp.
"Yeah. The less time we spend in this hole, the better."
This hole? Something started to scream at me. What? What was I missing? Jody was still talking.
"Okay. Number two's pulling out now. Mission accomplished, folks. Let's bug out of here. Begin evac scenario." The second transport began moving across the ruined compound. As soon as it was clear, we'd just have ourselves to worry ...
"NO!" I shouted, making my people jump. "No! Abort evac scenario! All hovs maintain attack maneuvers and firing patterns. Transport Two, decelerate and return to prisoner barracks. All personnel evacuate the compound perimeter immediately! That is a combat order!" Though Jody was my officer, she had given me combat command, so my orders were carried out. My set clicked over to private, and a less than thrilled Jody broke in on the suddenly active channels.
"Explain yourself, Sergeant," she said coolly. It was a measure of her trust in me that she did not countermand my orders. That didn't mean she wasn't going to jump all over me if I couldn't give her a very compelling reason for my actions.
"Yes, ma'am. Wait one second, please." I clicked off the mike and spoke to my dogs. "Clear out! Move quick to the west at least one kilometer. I'll catch up. Kelly, you're in command."
"Yes, Sergeant!" Kelly's voice was a little shrill, but she stayed calm. She turned to the others. "You heard her! Let's go!" They took off, running, but not fleeing. I clicked the set back on.
"Sorry, ma'am. I think we're getting away with the transports because the hovs are still airborne. NATech is monitoring their ion trails from space. As long as they're in the air, they know we're on the ground. Once they land, we'll be ready to embark and bug out. That's when they'll blow the minefield under us."
"I don't buy that, Abigail. They'd kill the whole garrison here just to take out us? Not even NATech is that cold. And if they were, why not just blow it now?"
"They are that cold, ma'am. Remember who NATech really is. Young wants me dead. But since the hovs have been airborne the whole time, the same ion trails that mark where they are also disguise everything going on underneath. For all Chris knows, the battle is still raging, and I might be captured. That would give him the chance to get his hands on me and my trinary coding. That's why I told him I had UTC knowledge, to make him hesitant to kill me out of hope of acquiring that knowledge. Once he knew Forncheth lost the fight, which he'd know as soon as the hovs landed, he'd give up on that and simply blow the place."
"And your recall of the second transport hov?"
"Another indication that we'd won the battle. One might have made it out and we'd still stay. But if two get clear, we'd bug out as fast as we could."
"As fast as we were just about to," she acknowledged grimly. "So now what? We still haven't bought ourselves much time. It'll only be two or three minutes before he spots our people outside the ionized field and comes to the right conclusion."
"I know. But that may be all we need. Mike? You there?"
"Hey, you said to stick around. Lemme guess. You want me to start blowing the mines in counterproductive patterns?"
"Bingo. Use asymmetrical blasts to nullify the effects of the explosions as much as possible. Try to avoid a chain reaction."
"Well, duh!" he smart mouthed back. "I'm on it. You get out of there."
"I'm already going." I was, too, having gotten free of the wreckage and heading west at a fast trot. "Lieutenant? Take your group out with the transport. It'll be a little tight, but ..."
"They're already squeezing in now, Abby. I'll be joining you in less than a minute."
"Ma'am! Please get on
the transport! There's no point in risking ..."
"And what army are you in, Sergeant? As commanding officer, would you get on
the transport?"
Of course I wouldn't, and she knew it. I braked and started running for the prisoner barracks. "All right, ma'am. Hold the transport until I get there. We'll take out to the west as the hov leaves. We should be able to get clear before Young decides to blow the minefield." She didn't argue, knowing I'd use the same in-my-shoes tactic she'd just used on me. As second in command, I'd desert her only if it meant saving the lives of my people.
I was almost there when the ground shook violently, knocking me off balance. Mike was detonating the phase mines deep beneath us. Detonated all at once, they could turn this place into a very deep, very hot crater. And although individually they still packed a wallop, activity above ground could continue, disturbed only by occasional upheavals. I regained my balance and picked up my pace. If Chris spotted Mike blowing the mines, he'd know we'd figured out his tactics and would set off the others. He might just tire of the whole thing and blow it up anyway, although I expected the possibility of acquiring UTC would hold him a little longer.
Jody had just finished closing up the rear cargo hatch when I rounded the last corner of the barracks. She spotted me, said something into her set and took out after me. I braked and started back the way I had come. The hov turned slowly and began ambling slowly toward the center of camp. They were obviously going slow to give us time to clear the compound, but there was no point waiting in the dead center of a death trap.
Jody fell in beside me, loping easily. I was in fairly good shape, but I'd only been a going concern for three weeks, and I didn't have all my conditioning. Also, the long, ultrahigh speed phase had drained a lot out of me. As a consequence, the running was starting to hurt. I was gasping and my face was dripping sweat even in the cool summer night air. Underneath my armor, my burning lungs seemed to radiate heat outward, soaking my slick body sheathe. Fortunately, my legs were still up to the task, so I kept up with Jody, although I sounded like a cheap squeeze box.
We ran across the compound to the west, the small fires and starry night sky lighting our way. If it hadn't been for the overwhelming urgency and my heaving, about-to-explode lungs, it would have been enjoyable. Overhead, flashing red and green lights flickered over the camp, the hovs continued their mock strafing runs, firing at long destroyed enemy positions. I shuddered at the thought of the carnage being wreaked on the corpses of our enemy. We were about one hundred meters clear of the destroyed perimeter when my set crackled and Mike came on.
"He's starting to blow the minefield, Abby! Kiki's changing the manual override codes as fast as she can, but he's getting through! You've got maybe two minutes before he starts the chain reaction!" As if to underscore the warning, the ground lifted a few centimeters, and a deep rumble sounded. It was followed almost immediately by another tremor.
"All hovs and personnel!" Jody yelled into her set, meaning she'd either heard Mike's message or deduced what the tremors meant. "Emergency evac! Land, load and bug out! Ninety seconds!"
Immediately the hovs broke off their pattern and banked away from the camp, descending at a reckless speed and angle. Ninety seconds simply wasn't enough time to land and load, but they were going to try. There was a roar as our PDQ Hov shot over us and landed about half a kilometer from us. In the clear air, it was possible to see several silhouettes outlined against the light spilling from the already lowering cargo ramp.
They took Jody's orders seriously. The ramp hadn't even touched the ground and they began piling in. Their movements were quick and orderly, a credit to their unit. Unfortunately, they were moving a little too quickly for us. Jody and I wouldn't be able to reach them before they finished loading.
"Hov Yellow One loaded and phasing," we heard over the common channel. In emergency evac scenario, each hov acted as an independent unit, the pilot responsible only for his passengers. It may have sounded like an every man for himself philosophy, but there was really nothing that could be done to offer support to other hovs during a phased bug-out. They would continue to monitor channels, and would turn back at any distress call, but there was little point in risking lives when the other hovs were probably just as safe.
"Yellow Three. Loading complete. Bugging out in ten seconds."
The hov in front of us was nearly loaded, and we were still two hundred meters away. All either of us had to do was speak into the mike and they'd wait for us. But with the ground shaking continuously now as Kiki fought her losing battle for control of the minefield, neither of us wanted to risk the unit.
"Yellow Four. Loading complete. Bugging out in ten seconds. Anyone have the Lieutenant?" Jody was gasping for breath now, too, but spoke calmly into the set.
"I'm taken care of, Gary. Get out of here."
"Will do, ma'am. See you at base."
The hatch was closing now, the ramp lifting slowly up. The hov pilot, Johnson, wasn't even waiting to secure, and had already started turning away from us. We were less than twenty meters now, but the craft had begun moving slowly away from us.
We didn't make it. We were no more than ten meters away and the craft started accelerating faster than we could run. The ramp was two thirds up, blocking those inside from seeing us. Still we didn't call out. If we made it, we made it. If not, then we weren't risking the lives of those under us unnecessarily.
"Yellow Two. Loaded and phasing."
There was a heavy roar behind us as Kiki lost control of the minefield. More brilliant than a dozen suns, a blinding light poured against our backs, and the warmth of the blast sent a shiver up my spine. Our sharply defined shadows were cast onto the rear of the hov - lurching, stumbling figures that made a mockery of our desperate run. With no reason and little logic, I cursed the images, blaming them for our misery.
An instant later I was praising them as the sweetest art in creation. Someone must have spotted the moving shadows and recognized them for what they were. The hov abruptly slowed down and the cargo ramp slammed down. The hov slowed so quickly that both Jody and I had to jump onto it to avoid running into it. Eager hands grabbed and pulled us into the hov, gripping us firmly as the pilot accelerated as quickly as he could, trying to outrun the blast.
Unable to tear our gaze away from the onrushing explosion, we stared out of the rear of the hov, shielding our eyes from the still blinding light that poured from the vaporized concentration camp. It seemed impossible that we could outrun it.
Nor did we. The explosion surged up to us, then enveloped us. But it did not the slightest damage. It didn't even chip the paint; Johnson had entered phase mode an instant before the explosion would have destroyed us. The ramp, slowed now by its phased state, continued to inch slowly closed. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, the hatch secured and we could relax. Johnson eased the craft into the ground, banked steeply to starboard, and headed for home.
Chapter Seven
A lot can happen in seven hundred years time, even in a crippled society like this one. Space had been colonized. Vehicles moved silently while sitting on a cushion of antigravity, propelled effortlessly through air, water and solid ground. Pollution, overcrowding, and famine had become curiosities in history lessons. Computers had advanced from an artificially represented three-dimensional interface to an actual five-dimensional adventure that tapped into yet another dimension. Even something as simple as a door had undergone stunning and radical changes. As exciting and wonderful as all these things were to me normally, it was with overwhelming relief and comfort that I clung to the never changing, never improved, never computerized toilet.
My stomach took another nosedive at five hundred knots, then pulled up sharply, so I leaned over and was sick again. I wanted to die. The happiest day in my life, and I wanted to die. I leaned back against the door and moaned. A pounding on the stall door produced a second moan.
"Come on, Abby!" Susie's voice came through cheerfully but firmly.
"If we don't get your hair up in the next twenty minutes, there won't be time for everything else!"
"I don't want to get married, Susie!" I cried out, panic clamping my voice to a throaty squeak. "I've changed my mind! I'm not ready!"
"Okay," she said agreeably, and walked off. I was about to get sick again, when I heard the bathroom door tone closed as Susie left.
My stomach settled down, but then knotted up with fear. She really had left! She was going to tell everyone ... oh, no! I scrambled to my feet and yanked open the stall door. What was she thinking? Aaron would be crushed! Dressed only in my slip, I raced out to the shower area - and right into Susie's waiting arms. She clamped them firmly around me, while I tried to break free. I heard her laugh.
"Sorry, girl, but I've had all my strength back for more than a month now, and you're too mixed up to even try one of your moves on me. Your heart's not in it and your head's one thread shy of stripped. Here," she led me to the mirrored counter, sat me forcefully down on a stool and handed me a cup of cold water. "Rinse out and splash a little water on your face. It will help you calm down. But then we have to get started. The wedding's in two hours."
Two hours! I looked desperately into her eyes, wanting to cry and laugh and be sick again all at once.
"Oh, Susie! What am I doing? This is insane! I'm not old enough to get married! What if Aaron isn't the one? What if I'm not good enough to be his wife?"
"It seems to me Aaron should be the one who decides if you're good enough. And since he's standing less than a hundred meters away, dressed in his number ones, with your wedding ring in his pocket, I'd take that as a strong indicator he's decided."
I nodded, feeling my heart flutter and soar. "You're right. He loves me. And I love him. But isn't it awfully soon to be doing this?"
Susie stepped behind me and began combing my hair out and styling it. It had been over three months since we'd pulled the Third out of NATech's little sliver of hell, and all thirty-one of the prisoners had made a full recovery - at least physically. The internal scarring of the soul was permanent. Susie still woke me in the middle of the night once every week or so to talk and feel alive. She'd have to find another midnight confidant, though; I was changing roomies as of today.
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