In Service

by Mima

  Malla looked at Grady. “You can link the team like Kor?”

  “No. I can read minds though. Not nearly with his sweet touch. When I do it, it’s like a spike. I know what you’re thinking at that moment, and I can get a sense of which direction you are. But I have limited distance compared to Kor, and it doesn’t go two ways, so no communication.”

  “A spike? It’s more like Grady held his ion cannon to your head and pulled the trigger.

  Talk about worst case scenario. He’s like a great hulking beast stomping through your head.

  Oh, wait, he’s like that in real space, too.”

  Grady just laughed, shaking his head. “Strap in, boy. Safety first.”

  Kor snorted, but reached for his harness. They all took the places they’d been in on takeoff.

  The cabin was quiet for several long minutes. Malla thought Grady had perhaps fallen asleep again, and Shon as well.

  Then, a voice spoke clear as a bell. “This is Dunru moon. You are on an approach lane.

  Is this your intention?”

  “Luo Team Epsilon 983 approaching for landing,” Vel drawled coolly.

  Malla’s heart thumped. She picked her rifle up off the ground, checked its components were all in place. She let out a shaky breath. Her men. Hers. She was an Elite. She served them well. She’d continue to do so. This woman would be rescued and returned to her mercenary father who would stand by the High Post and help bring Duke Lester Harris down. Then her team would help renew the battle to stop the bugs. That was the plan, and she was sticking to it.

  Chapter Ten

  Her breath wheezed, searing painfully in her dry throat. She wasn’t in battle ready shape, and obviously she wasn’t a Luo, but she had to pretend to be one, a young trainee joining an experienced team. So the men hadn’t slowed down from their punishing pace through the tiny, winding pedestrian streets glowing with vivid laser signs. They’d stopped often, sometimes so that Shon could sweep the current terrain to synchronize it with the maps they had on their vid plates. Sometimes for Kor to psychically sweep for Char.

  The most terrifying pause was when they stopped to return fire from a few people who scattered. She was proud of the fact she’d managed to raise her gun and aim, but it was all over by the time she focused. When they made it into dirtier, darker, twistier streets, she was about ready to black out. Her lungs burned and her heart knocked into her armor. From fear, from running, from adrenaline. If not for her server training, she would have passed out from heart failure.

  Kor was obviously drained from sweeping a huge amount of people. He leaned against the wall of a building. Its gray metal had faded nearly to black with grime.

  “This is it.” Kor’s voice sounded inside her helmet. They’d turned the outside speakers off, allowing them to only talk to each other. “He’s under, at least two floors.”

  Grady stepped up to the door. It was locked. He took a gummy from his belt and broke it in pieces, putting a tiny bit in each corner. He stepped back quickly and there was a flash of blue-white light. He spun and kicked. The door flew into the building. The onlookers at either end of the street scattered. So many people. Malla hadn’t realized there’d be crowds of people everywhere.

  Grady moved into the building, firing at the sudden yellow glow of a bolt gun

  engaging. Shon went in next, gun raised, but the shooter had already cried out and fallen.

  Shon stepped up to the body and fired into its head. Malla swallowed. Grady was already sweeping the tiny room, gaining the building’s floor plan through his vid plate. Vel knocked her shoulder and she went in.

  Shon and Grady teamed the entry through the next door in the building. This time they did not fire. As she cleared the doorway, she spared a glance back at the street door.

  Kor’s shoulders filled it. He no longer looked tired, but rather alert and solid.

  Vel stepped into her sight. “Go, Malla.”

  She knew Kor was guarding the street entrance, but leaving him behind was still hard.

  She preceded Vel, following Shon and Grady as they found the trap door with the handmade ladder. She followed them through a tunnel to a maintenance staircase that spiraled down.

  Grady blew the door at the end, this time stepping back against the wall and letting Shon and Vel stand shoulder to shoulder with their guns at the ready.

  The door blew, and lasers streamed out of the smoke caused from the explosives. Malla cringed back, her fingers aching from their grip on her gun. She bit her tongue to keep from screaming as her men each took a hit. The lasers shimmered off their Luo armor, painting the black mesh with yellow and red. Shon and Vel never flinched, returned fire. Then the firing stopped. Shon and Vel went through and made sure the attackers were dead. Five shots.

  “Kor. We’ve got seven tunnels. It’s a hub room.” Shon’s voice was calm as he spoke into the helmet on their shared comlink.

  The sounds of hurrying away sounded down one tunnel, and the sounds of hurrying

  toward came from another.

  “South is all I can give you, boss. And we’ve got company forming at both ends up here.”

  “I’ll find them.” Grady’s bulk stood huge, like a statue of strength against one wall. Vel and Shon fired into the tunnel and shouts sounded, echoing. Grady’s shoulders dipped, as if he’d taken a hit. Then, “That one.” He pointed at the tunnel they were firing into.

  “Of course it’s that one,” Vel muttered.

  “Well, there’s three less, now. I wanted to triangulate.” Grady had gotten Char’s location from ransacking the minds of people around the area. None of the three minds he’d found and ransacked would be still standing.

  Shon knelt and Grady stood over his shoulder, at the edge of the tunnel. Vel entered about five meters and knelt against the opposite wall. Grady ran to behind him. Shon went up past them and knelt. They proceeded this way down the tunnel, passing some fresh blood, but there was no return fire. The tunnel had several corners and one curve, and at the fourth corner, there was a camera.

  Shon walked up to it and turned his external speaker on. “We’re here for Char. We’ll take out anyone who stands between us. Come on, Char, and let us help your team.”

  There were two more corners, and then another door that Grady blew open. Malla

  knew that they blew these key doors to keep their retreat open. Inside this room, there were the first signs of habitation since the street level. A couple of chairs, a table, some parts in the corner that someone had been tinkering with. They went through two more rooms like this when they came to a fortified door.

  “Here’s our main meal,” Vel muttered.

  Malla recognized some of the security plates that had been in place back on the

  waystation. Vel stepped up and began to work. Shon stayed cued on another door in the room, while Grady posted facing the way they’d come. Malla rested against one wall. Her suit, a cut down version of Kor’s, was supposed to regulate to her needs. But her pits and palms were sweaty. The fit was so tight her breasts ached, and her shoulders chafed where the loose fit rubbed against the ion gun’s strap. They hadn’t even achieved Stage A in an eight-step mission.

  A panel beeped. None of the men moved, then Vel said, “Incoming voice transmission.”

  “This is Char. To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?”

  “It’s Vel of Team Epsilon 983.”

  A beat of silence. “Ah.” Another beat of silence. “They’ve finally called in the big boys then.”

  On their in-helmet channel, Vel asked, “Shon? For a little honesty, we may get out of a heck of fight where we could end up damaging them.”

  “Take my post.”

  Shon and Vel exchanged places. “Char, this is Shon. You need to know we’re here for Radha. We’re taking her with or without you. You in or out?”

  Malla was breathless at the utter command and confidence of Shon’s voice. He was so hot. Sweat gathered beneath her breasts. The silence spun out. S
hon stood patiently.

  “We’ve got two temporary servers. I want them to come.”

  “No.”

  “Son of a fucking --” Char cut off the link. More silence. “Shon, listen. I think she might be an Elite.”

  Shon didn’t even hesitate. “No. The addict is a liability off mission and a no-go on this one. There’s no room for the male.” More silence. Shon continued. “Char. Why are you being so stupid? Do you want to assist with Radha or not? Come back for them later. Or pay to send them off moon if you’re worried she’ll OD in your absence.”

  An indignant shout came from the background of the open channel. “All right,” Char conceded. “But we run the mission from here. It’s secure, and it’s closer, and we’ve been working on…an alternative entry.”

  Again Shon didn’t even hesitate. “No. This is not a collaboration of teams. This is you contributing background to us and fighting underneath us according to orders.”

  “I know you need my knowledge or you wouldn’t even bother with us. So you’re going to agree to fight from this location if you want my cooperation.”

  Shon stepped back to guard the doorway again. “Open it, Vel.”

  Vel worked while Char cursed and cajoled and explained and demanded. Once Vel had the backlash measures disengaged, Grady came up to blow the door.

  It opened just as he was about to lay the explosive. Malla’s finger twitched on the trigger, but she managed not to fire. Char stood with his hands up. “Don’t wreck the door.

  We might need a bolt hole.” He had Kor’s light brown hair, only it curled wildly. It should have made him look younger, innocent. But his face was hard, gaunt, and scarred. His blue eyes were bitter, and he was shirtless, revealing a bandage that covered the left side of his torso.

  “No one’s coming through those doors. You can stand down.”

  Vel didn’t move. Grady and Shon switched places so Shon could face Char.

  “How’s your team’s ability to move through the city?” Shon asked.

  “Not good.” Char sounded as bitter and tired as his eyes. “Another reason for you to organize from this position. Ahmed can’t walk. Cristanna is teetering on the brink of starvation. She’s refused to be served for two weeks, trying to get me healed up. She can only focus for short periods. Lali is currently strung out because when I heard a new Luo team landed, I kept her here and she’s late for a hit. Ben can move, but of course, he’s human. I can move, with human speed, but I’ll be useless in hand to hand.”

  Shon’s forceful command through this whole exchange calmed Malla. She was proud to be on his team. He spoke quickly, efficiently laying out the actions he wanted. “You have local allies, and we know Kappa 49 is here to help you. I’m not interested in whatever reason you had for avoiding them. Get your servers gone with the locals, suppress whatever ill-advised rescue your local allies may be considering, and tell Kappa 49 to meet us at the Mud Slick Coffee Shop in one hour. You have ten minutes.”

  “Are you really in a position to shut out extra servers?”

  She couldn’t believe the arrogance of this man, how he continued to argue with a better, stronger team.

  Shon cleared the visor of his helmet, baring his face. He stared the slightly larger man down. Finally, with a curse, Char turned away and went back into the guarded room.

  “Vel. Get your medical head on.”

  “Yes, sir.” Vel knelt and shrugged off his backpack, opening and laying out patches, a vid plate, and pressure bandages.

  An eternity later, which her watch told her was only eight minutes, Char came to the door. “Well? How are you going to move us out?”

  Vel approached him and stuck two patches to the back of his neck. Char stiffened but didn’t question what they were.

  Shon asked, “Where’s your armor?”

  “Blown to nothing. I have some human stuff.”

  Shon motioned him to turn, then stepped up and put his short-range gun to his head.

  “Go.”

  Char cursed, but went in, Grady right behind with his rifle up and ready and then Malla. Vel stayed back to bring the door closed. The room was a bit of a disappointment. One chair, an air mattress on the floor, three doors. Feminine screams and curses echoed from one of the rooms.

  Char gestured to it. “That’s Lali.”

  “What a touching goodbye,” Vel said sarcastically.

  Shon never moved his gun from Char’s head. Malla knew he didn’t trust the other

  team, especially on their fortified turf. “Cristanna first.”

  Char gestured to another door. “Second room on the left. I turned off all the guns.”

  “And where’s her armor?”

  “If she hasn’t taken it off again, it should be on her.”

  “Grady, check it out.”

  Vel was scanning Char with his medical plate. “This was bad, but is only a moderate injury now.”

  “Now you see why I put up with Lali. When we can get her off the streets this is what I can achieve. All Ben is good for is keeping us upright. We need her for the healing.”

  “Not anymore,” Shon said matter-of-factly.

  Char kept his hands out at his side. “If Cris sees the gun at my head, it won’t go well.”

  Shon reluctantly lowered the gun but put his hand on the back of Char’s neck.

  Grady came through the doorway holding a woman who was twisting at his grip on

  her arm. He carried her helmet and one boot in his other hand. Her black hair flew everywhere, coming out of a sloppy ponytail. She wasn’t fighting him so much as trying to go back the way they’d come.

  She was crying. “Nonononono.”

  Char made a move to step toward her and Shon grabbed his neck, jamming the gun

  into his lower back, out of sight. He halted, swallowing. “Cris. CrisCross. Look. It’s another team. They’re going to help us.” He spoke low, soothing.

  She obviously wasn’t having a lucid moment. She seemed to not even hear him,

  clawing ineffectually at Grady’s hand, scrabbling and tugging with her body to get back to her room. Malla’s heart bled to see the torture a warrior had put herself through, sacrificing herself for a teammate.

  “Cuff her.” Shon’s voice was tight.

  Char went rigid. Vel slid up to the starving Luo and put a patch on her neck. Three breaths later, she listed against Grady, seeming to sag. He laid her down gently. Vel and Grady quickly put her in restraints at her elbows and wrists, with a silencer over her mouth and a band on her thighs that would only allow tiny steps. Char made a pained sound as Grady put her boot on.

  “Ahmed,” Shon ordered.

  “Third on the right, same corridor. He knows you’re coming. He has crutches he can go short distances on. One of his legs will support him a short while.”

  Grady unholstered his gun and went in again. A few moments later, he came out with a Luo almost as big as he in a shoulder carry. He was fully armored, right to the helmet. Grady put him on the floor. Malla swallowed when she saw how carefully he set the man down.

  Ahmed had his helmet on clear, so she could see the high cheekbones and bladed nose, the black eyes. White grooves around his mouth gave proof to the kind of pain he was in. When Ahmed saw Cristanna slack and bound, he started, surging toward her.

  Vel was there to push him back, undoing his helmet to put another med patch on his neck. “All right, Shon. We’ve got painkiller on Ahmed, sedation on Cristanna, and adrenaline and painkiller on Char.”

  Shon looked at each of them, his helmet once again opaque and reflecting their black forms. “Suit up in what you’ve got, Char. Team, we’re into Stage B.”

  Chapter Eleven

  If Malla thought Stage A was unending, she obviously hadn’t understood what it meant that Char and the Duke had allies on Dunru. Between traveling from Char’s saferoom to the location Shon had chosen for Stage C, they were in seven firefights. Not counting the three Kor had been in while holding the door on
the street. Sometimes Char could call off the fight, but sometimes he couldn’t.

  Malla was in awe of her men’s abilities. Grady dropped eight, ten, thirteen people with a glance of his blue eyes. Vel phazed around behind a group. And Shon stayed icy calm, but his voice grew tighter with each deadly round. Only once the enemy had better firepower than they did. If Vel hadn’t had Cristanna over his shoulder, he would have taken a bad hit.

  As it was, she did.

  Malla was proud she’d been able to contribute to the firefights. It got so that she didn’t even jump anymore. Her two loblollies were gone, and she’d only had to go hand to hand once. She’d blocked the flurry of blows and avoided the laser knife until Vel was there, cutting through the attacking woman in a wash of blood. Another time, they’d had to move with Luo speed, so they paired up: Vel and Cris, Kor and Ahmed, Grady and Char, and Shon had taken her. The streets had blurred as her stomach heaved.

  The team had gone to their psychic link three times, and she was getting better at adapting to the overwhelming avalanche of the men’s sensations and thoughts. They’d made it to their sewer exit, and gone through the tunnels to the building and floor Shon wanted.

  They caught a break when they arrived to find the apartment Shon wanted vacated. Filthy and scattered with debris, it had obviously been unoccupied for several days, if not weeks.

  Malla sat against the wall in a relatively clean spot, gasping from their rush up three flights of stairs. The men pulled their helmets off. She didn’t have the strength. Her gaze jumped to each of her men. They were alive. They were all alive, upright, safe…for now.

  “All right, lovely?” Vel asked.

  She nodded.

  “Check Cris. Please.” Char lay on his good side, breathless.

  Ahmed wrenched off his helmet and vomited on the floor. He spat and groaned,

  “Crap.”

  Vel moved to the bound woman, analyzed her, and removed her charred armor. “I

  think it was the Duke’s men in the fight that did this. I don’t see Dunru rats having this edition of firepower.”