Spoils of War

by Terry Mixon

  “While we’re doing that, I want to take you to one of the empty containers and give you a chance to fire flechettes into something. I’ve had a couple of marines put up an armored barrier to protect the container from flechettes overpenetrating the targets and blowing out our atmosphere, and now I want to give you a chance to fire your weapons so you won’t be surprised by how they behave if you have the need to use them.

  “If it comes to that, you’re only going to get one chance to get it right, and I want to be sure that you do.”

  Fei took One Twenty-Four to another container where the far end had been packed with crates and then covered with slabs of what looked like gelled material. Tacked to the gel were silhouettes in the form of human torsos.

  That was more than a little disturbing.

  “Take your pistol from its holster and aim it at a target,” Fei commanded. “I want you to fire a single shot when you’re ready. Aim for the center of the chest right where the breastbone would be.”

  Taking a deep, settling breath, One Twenty-Four drew her pistol the way she’d been taught, brought it up her body with the barrel pointing toward the target, and then extended it until her elbows were almost locked. She focused through the sight and picked the appropriate place to aim the weapon before slipping her finger into the trigger guard and gently squeezing the trigger.

  She tensed, afraid of what the weapon was going to feel like when it went off, only nothing happened.

  Frowning, she remembered the safety, flicked it down with her thumb, and felt the click that indicated the weapon was now ready to fire. She then sighted on the target again and squeezed the trigger.

  The flechette slammed into the target with more force than One Twenty-Four had anticipated, splattering some of the gel off of the barrier itself. The weapon bucked slightly in her hand, and the movement startled her enough that she inadvertently squeezed the trigger again and fired a second flechette.

  Shocked, she took her finger off the trigger and almost turned to face Fei before she realized that that would bring her weapon away from the target and froze.

  “I’m sorry,” she said carefully. “The movement of the weapon surprised me, and I accidentally fired it again.”

  Fei grinned at her. “That’s actually more common than you might think. My compliments on keeping your weapon on the target. I’d have been really upset if you’d swept the barrel across me. You did well. Safe the pistol and holster it for now. It’s time to try your rifle.”

  With her failure fresh in her mind, One Twenty-Four followed Fei’s instructions and then brought the rifle up to her shoulder and focused on the target before using her thumb to move the selector switch to single fire.

  When Fei gave the order, she slid her finger inside the trigger guard and squeezed the trigger, exerting all care to ensure that she didn’t fire again when it discharged.

  The impact of this flechette was significantly more potent than the one from the pistol, blowing a large hole in the center of the target. The weapon also jerked more strongly than the pistol, but because of its size, it was easier to control. The fact that the stock was wedged into her shoulder meant that she never lost sight of the target through the sight.

  “Excellent,” Fei said with a nod of approval. “Now flip the selector switch to burst. There’s a trick to using burst that I want you to practice. If you simply squeeze the trigger and release it, the rifle will fire three flechettes at the target.

  “If you squeeze the trigger and hold it, the rifle will fire until you let off or the magazine runs out of flechettes. I want you to start with a single burst and pay attention to the behavior of your rifle.”

  One Twenty-Four focused her attention on the target, flipped the selector to burst, and squeezed the trigger. As advertised, the rifle fired three flechettes in rapid succession. The muzzle of the weapon tried to rise, but she had no difficulty controlling it.

  “Very good,” Fei congratulated her. “Now, hold the trigger down and try to keep your weapon on target while you empty the magazine.”

  With growing confidence, One Twenty-Four did as instructed. The muzzle of the weapon rose more aggressively, but she mastered it, emptying the magazine into the target’s chest, shredding it.

  Once the last flechette had fired, the rifle emitted a brief tone that she knew indicated the magazine was empty. Without being told to, she ejected the spent magazine and replaced it with a full one from her harness.

  “Excellent, Little One!” Fei said with a grin. “I’m shocked that you managed to keep your weapon controlled while on fully automatic. That’s one of the most challenging weapons-related tasks a new recruit trains on during the early stages of training.

  “Automatic fire is mainly used to keep the enemy’s heads down so that your teammates can advance or retreat without being under fire. Most people stick with bursts because they’re more controllable. How did you manage to keep your weapon focused on the target? Honestly, you shouldn’t have been strong enough to do that.”

  One Twenty-Four shrugged as she moved the selector switch back to safe and allowed the rifle to hang from her harness. “It wasn’t that difficult. Why can’t most people keep it on target?”

  “The muzzle rises when you fire it. Even though you’re not feeling much of the recoil, the weapon does have a reaction to the high-speed flechettes coming out of the barrel. You didn’t have any trouble controlling the muzzle rise?”

  “No,” One Twenty-Four said with a shake of her head. “It didn’t even require that much strength. Are you sure it’s supposed to be that difficult?”

  “Make certain that your weapon is safed and put it back on your shoulder,” Fei commanded.

  As soon as she’d done so, Fei reached out and put her hand under the barrel.

  “I’m going to lift the weapon as if it were firing. I want you to keep it on target.”

  One Twenty-Four nodded and prepared herself to deal with the rising muzzle. When she felt Fei applying pressure, she used her left arm to pull the barrel back down and kept the rifle aimed at the target.

  When the muzzle didn’t go up, Fei frowned and increased her upward pressure to far more than the weapon had actually generated. It was still barely manageable, but One Twenty-Four kept the weapon on target.

  After a few seconds, Fei released the weapon and stepped back. “You’re stronger than you look, Little One. Just based on my impression of your arms, I wouldn’t have believed that you could resist that much pressure. Exactly how strong are you?”

  One Twenty-Four shrugged. “As strong as my line sibs. I’ve never had an opportunity to test my strength against anyone outside the crèche.”

  “Have you ever heard of arm wrestling?”

  “No. I know what arms are, but I don’t know what wrestling is.”

  Fei laughed and gestured for One Twenty-Four to come over to where a few crates sat in the corner of the container. She took up a position on one side and rested her elbow on top of the box before gesturing for One Twenty-Four to do the same.

  As soon as she’d done so, Fei gripped One Twenty-Four’s hand firmly. “When I tell you to, I want you to apply pressure and force my hand down to the top of the crate. Don’t take your elbow off the top, just use it as a lever.”

  One Twenty-Four didn’t understand the purpose behind this ritual, but she was more than willing to give it a try. There was no way that she’d be able to move Fei’s hand very much, of that she was certain. The woman was much larger than she was and also a trained warrior.

  Once she had a good grip on Fei’s hand, she waited for the signal to begin. As soon as Fei nodded, One Twenty-Four began applying pressure.

  To her surprise, the woman’s hand began moving. Fei frowned and increased her efforts, seemingly trying to get her hand back into the upright position. One Twenty-Four brought the full pressure of her strength to bear, and Fei’s hand continued down until the woman’s leverage failed, and One Twenty-Four slammed the woman’s arm onto the cra
te.

  They stared at one another for long seconds. One Twenty-Four wasn’t sure which of them was more shocked.

  “You’re much stronger than you look, Little One,” Fei said as she rubbed her forearm. “I think your genetic modifications may have increased your base strength beyond that of a normal human. If we’d been of equal strength, I’d have been able to use my superior arm length to win this contest, so you must be somewhat stronger than me, even at your age.

  “Honestly, I think you might be stronger than any of the men in the platoon, too. A fact that I’m tempted to use to my advantage in the near future, just to see their reactions.”

  One Twenty-Four opened her mouth to say something but couldn’t figure out what she wanted to say. She didn’t know what to think. What Fei was suggesting was ludicrous.

  “Are you telling me that normal humans aren’t as strong as members of the Andrea Line?” she finally ventured. “What purpose would such a modification serve? I wasn’t meant to be a laborer or warrior, so why would I require enhanced strength?”

  Fei shrugged. “If you don’t know the answer now, the odds are good that you’ll never know for sure. You’ll just have to accept that that’s the way it is.

  “With modified genes, the differences between you and unmodified humans may be legion. Your intelligence could be significantly increased, your speed and dexterity—or any other trait that the original designers chose to augment—could be higher.

  “Hell, since you’re a member of their elite lines, they might have decided to enhance everything. Until we get to a place where we can do more noninvasive testing, we won’t know for sure.

  “And I use the word noninvasive very specifically. We can measure many of the things about you and figure out how they fall into the range of human norms without looking at your insides. Or, if the thought of that makes you uncomfortable, then we won’t.”

  One Twenty-Four considered what Fei had said and shrugged. “I need to know what differences there are so that I can compensate for them. If unmodified humans view me as a threat, that could make my life more difficult. I think it best if I blend in, so I need to know what to expect. I still want to know why, though.”

  “I think you’re wise to be cautious, Little One. As far as why, I think chasing that answer is a fool’s errand. It’s much more useful to focus on the what rather than the why. All that matters under these circumstances is that you are who you are.

  “If you ever get into a fight with an unmodified human, that kind of advantage could very well make a difference in your favor should they underestimate you—which is an almost certainty.”

  As if the matter were settled, Fei handed the magazine back to One Twenty-Four. “Let’s fire some more with both the rifle and pistol. I want you to become comfortable with moving and shooting at the same time. Standing still while someone shoots at you is an excellent way to die.

  “We’ll also discuss how to take cover and the basic signals that marines use and what they mean.”

  Before they could start, there was a thump, and it felt as if the ship moved slightly.

  One Twenty-Four frowned and looked over to Fei. “What was that?”

  “The cutter just docked,” Fei said seriously. “It looks like the great game has begun. Now, let’s focus on what we can before we’re required to act. We’ll go over what I need to teach you quickly, and then we’ll head back to join the marines and start getting them into the boarding pods.

  “You’re not going to be going with us if we attack the other ship, but I want you to be at least marginally familiar with the process.

  “And that’s another lesson for you, Little One. The learning never stops. As soon as you think you know everything, you’ll find something else that you need to master.”

  One Twenty-Four nodded as the two of them got to work. If she needed to defend herself or the marines, she needed to be ready.

  29

  To Grace’s relief, the Singularity marines’ search for weapons was perfunctory. In fact, the two didn’t even bother using scanner wands. Instead, they patted each of them down by hand, and that was it.

  The process was professional enough that they’d have found any weapons but not so thorough that she felt groped. While these troops weren’t top of the line, they seemed competent, so she was glad whatever Kyle had stashed to try and get into the ship’s systems passed undetected.

  The marines grouped the four visitors together inside the cutter and then sat around them in good overwatch positions to make sure that they didn’t cause trouble. Once again, professional behavior. She really hoped they didn’t end up fighting marines of this caliber, because it would be an ugly fight.

  The cutter was an Imperial model, though not of the most current generation, so it must’ve been captured with the ship. Its age meant very little since Fleet was so extensive. Even the generation of cutter previous to this one was still in service in some places. If it worked, there was little call to replace it.

  The pilots undocked smoothly, but their maneuvering seemed clumsy. She found that peculiar. She’d have figured that even though the equipment wasn’t Singularity gear, they’d have accrued enough experience to use it without issues.

  Grace considered attempting to connect her implants to the cutter to see if it still had the systems to receive such communications but decided that that was just begging for trouble. It was far better not to take chances like that.

  Trying to look casual yet still somewhat nervous about what was to come wasn’t that difficult, so she didn’t feel like she was straining her almost nonexistent acting skills too much. If things went badly, not only would she die, but so would everyone else back on the freighter. There was a lot at stake.

  The flight from Bright Passage to Ever Faithful Warrior was brief. The marines escorted them into the ship and directly to a lift once they’d docked.

  Unlike Imperial protocol, none of the ship’s officers was there to greet them. Maybe it was because of their supposedly low caste. She’d bet an officer would be there to welcome anyone of real status.

  As they made their way through the ship’s corridors, she began noticing that not everything was as it should be. There were occasional scuffs and scratches on the bulkheads and deck that looked as if they’d been caused by flechettes.

  She was pondering why the crew wouldn’t have cleaned things up after capturing the ship when they rounded a corner, and she found something far more anomalous.

  The side corridor they’d turned into was partially melted from a plasma discharge. Based on the amount of damage, it looked as if someone had fired a plasma rifle and ruined one of the bulkheads and several hatches on that side.

  The group edged over so that they were only traveling through the undamaged portion, but it begged the question of why the battle damage hadn’t been repaired. The only thing that she could think of was that the ship had only recently been captured.

  That changed their calculus, but she was concerned that they hadn’t heard of any battles larger than the usual border skirmish. Something this significant would’ve caused waves.

  While she was still thinking about that, her implants pinged with an incoming communication, shocking her. It was Anders. She couldn’t believe that he was taking this kind of risk but accepted the call. It wasn’t as if doing so was more dangerous than what he’d already done.

  This looks recent, right? he asked.

  It does, she confirmed. What’s going on?

  This has to be a new capture. Did you notice how the pilot didn’t seem to be familiar with the cutter? Add that together with the fact that they haven’t repaired this damage, and I don’t think they’ve had this ship for very long. It wouldn’t take much to replace the plates here to make this part of the ship whole again. Obviously, they’re still working on the critical systems.

  Grace, I’d stake every bit of money that I’m going to earn on this raid that they haven’t had this ship for more than two months. In fact
, it has to be more like one, or they’d have fixed the corridor here.

  I haven’t heard of any large-scale battles, though I suppose with only a couple of months since we started on this raid, we might not have gotten the word before we left, she said. How did the Singularity get their hands on this ship, and what are they doing with it?

  They’re taking her deeper into the Singularity, probably so that she can be fully converted for their use, he said, looking curiously at the damage as they passed. We’ve captured Singularity ships in the past, so it doesn’t shock me that they’ve gotten some of ours as well. I can’t imagine how they got their hands on a ship this large without one hell of a fight, though.

  At a guess, I think they must’ve caught her somewhere relatively isolated and overwhelmed her quickly. That’s the only way I can see that they could’ve forced her captain to surrender intact.

  Does this change our plans? she asked.

  I’ve already tried connecting to her with my implants, but the transceivers are down. No shock there. Why keep them online if you don’t have any people that can use them?

  Or they’ve got prisoners on the ship, she said.

  Anders almost stopped in his tracks before covering the motion with a fake stumble. The Singularity marines gave him funny looks but didn’t say anything.

  I suppose that we have to consider the possibility, he finally said. If so, they’re going to be locked up tight and under heavy guard.

  That changes things. We’re going to have to take her. I’m not going to potentially leave our people in these bastards’ hands. They’d just pretend that everyone died in the fighting and then disappear the survivors.

  We’ll have to play this by ear, she said. Is there any way that we can clue Kayden in on the change? This might alter how he behaves when the talking starts.

  I suggest you whisper it in his ear. Isn’t that what mistresses do? Give him a very brief rundown of what we’re thinking and planning.