Jill’s entire body jerked with surprised. “What?”
“You come at me with a giant fucking flashlight, and you ask me to pretend it’s something spectacular.” I shook my head. “I get that you worked hard on it, and maybe it doesn’t need batteries or whatever, but what the fuck good do you think this thing will do that the floodlights that come standard on every one of our suits can’t?” I huffed loudly. “What’s next? You gonna walk in here with a ham sandwich and tell me you’ve reinvented lunch?”
Jill blinked, obviously hurt at what I’d just leveled on her. Still, she steeled herself and moved toward me, glowing orb in hand. “Is that what you think this is? I know you’re a big deal, Mark. Lord knows, I do. What you might not know is that I’m kind of a big deal myself.”
Her smile came back as she continued, “Graduated first in my class, got a full ride to the best tech school in the country, and even came into the Marines with an unprecedented fifty-thousand-coin bonus when I joined the infantry. I’m a genius. I’m the best there is at what I do. I wouldn’t come at you with a giant fucking flashlight.” She bridged the gap between us and pressed the orb against my chest. “God might have said let there be light, but I’m the bitch who kept it on.”
I felt a sharp pull at my insides, my body tensing instinctively.
“Energy levels rapidly depleting,” Annabelle said in my head. “Down to seventy percent, sixty-seven percent. Sixty-three.”
She was pulling the energy out of my suit; my suit. The best and brightest weapon the Alliance had ever assembled, and she was tearing into it without even flexing a muscle.
I jerked backward defensively, getting out of reach of that crazy nightlight. “Stop it!”
The shout was unnecessary as the power drain cut off the moment I was away from the thing.
“This isn’t a flashlight, Mark,” Jill smiled at me, “and it’s not for illumination. This is a giant, gaping mouth. This is a floating, glowing, death star. This will move through this moon and pull out all the energy from everything it finds. This is the thing we need to make sure we get out of this place alive.”
She leaned closer to me. “You’re welcome.” Moving in, she planted a quick kiss on my lips and smiled. “You should see the look on your face.”
20
After that demonstration, there wasn’t anything else to say. Jill’s little sun was indeed going to be a game-changer. Not as much as Rayne’s virus, but anything that could shut down any energy source, including the bio-organic power cells that the bugs used for their own weapons, would kick major ass. Now more than ever I saw why Mina put this crew together and groomed them, no matter how against regulation her actions were.
With hours to wait until Claire’s concoction to cook and the suns to rise over the horizon, we decided to make camp in the caves. While Claire fussed over the fire, Jill set up camp kits, and Mina looked over the satellite maps of the area to glean possible routes out of our position, I took the chance before bedding down to make another attempt to get through to Della. She had to know we had made it through the crash with the constant updates our suits fed to the Alliance mainframe, but that wouldn’t tell her that we had a traitor and a bug onboard our Bullet ship.
Mina and I were of a like mind that there were shadowy forces at work and if anyone could ferret them out, it was Della from her position at the top of intelligence.
“Annabelle,” I said from the shelter of a side cave, “let’s see if we can phone home again.” Thinking as I made the request, I added, “And patch Mina in on this too. She will want to be in on this, and honestly, I hate repeating myself.”
“Lieutenant Ryder,” Annabelle responded in rote regulation-quoting mode, “I must remind you that as commanding officer, regulations dictate that your direct communications with Alliance Command pertaining the mission be for your eyes and ears only.”
“Duly noted and duly overrode.” I was to the point of not caring one bit about protocol or the damn system. I trusted Mina almost as much as I trusted Annabelle’s voice in my head and she had expertise in the back channels of Command that I didn’t. Something was stinking, and it wasn’t just our luck.
“Of course, Lieutenant. Uplinking to Alliance Hall and opening a link to Lieutenant John.”
I could hear Mina’s soft breathing just at the edge of the channel, but as always, she realized what was going on the moment this started. She would be a silent observer to keep the appearance of protocol. It didn’t surprise me that she sent me a private channel request at that moment, which I opened.
“Ballsy, Mark,” she whispered. “I’ll play your Cyrano for this … and thanks for keeping me in the loop.”
It was good to hear her say that, and I knew she meant it. After the whole deal with the Centis, we really hadn’t had a chance to talk about the sizeable elephant in the room, that whole soul-laid-bare for my eyes along sort of thing. I don’t think either of us foresaw that complication and it wasn’t what I intended. I might have been Mark Ryder, conqueror of women as much as bugs, but I respected Mina more than any woman in the universe.
I didn’t have a chance to answer back, not as Annabelle announced, “Uplink complete, and communications are now stable.”
“Thank God,” I sighed. “Della, it’s Mark. Look, we’re all safe and sound, right down to our cargo, but things have gone to hell in a handbasket down here.”
The reply that came through sent a sick chill down my spine. “Major Conroy has been relieved of command, soldier,” Commissioner Reynolds’ gravelly voice echoed across the stars to my ears. “I will be personally overseeing the rest of your mission, so rest assured that you are in good hands, Lieutenant Ryder.”
I was afraid for me. Hell, I wasn’t afraid, not in the usual sense of the word. A life like mine got that shit under control. No, this was concern for Della mixed with the cold, nauseating feeling of suspicions confirmed. That stink that had been in my nose since I met Reynolds was now full on ten-day old rot.
Mina’s side commentary was simple and straight-to-the-point. “Bullshit.”
“I know it’s not my place, sir,” I began, hoping to get the bastard to leak at least a little information I could use, “but Major Conroy is an old colleague. What happened?”
Reynolds grunted. “You’re right. It isn’t your place, but I respect your loyalty to the Major. All I can say is that we are acting on certain surveillance recordings and information passed up the line from the major’s subordinates. Now, as to your current, vital mission …”
Did someone else actually know about this? Did the Commissioner know about the illegal mission the whole time? Or was this something else? Until I knew more, I had to keep playing along, if for no other reason than Reynolds could decide to cut the power to our suits at the first sign of treason on our parts. That would be capital punishment of the most torturous order.
Mina was reading my mind, and after looking into hers, I understood now how completely we understood each other. “I know I don’t need to remind you, but play cool. You’ll figure out a way to save Della and you know we’ll help you.”
“Yes, sir, Commissioner,” I replied, even snapping a salute in case he decided to turn on any of my suit’s cameras. “As I stated and our uplinks should show, all four Marines are safe and sound, as well as Dr. Garmin, though she’s still in stasis. Our Bullet ship was sabotaged, sir. There was a bug on board.”
I decided to keep my knowledge about the pilot and his Alliance military bomb to myself. Though I couldn’t know for sure if Reynolds had anything to do with our mad bomber, I couldn’t rule it out. Maybe he’d reveal something if I gave him enough rope to hang himself.
“This is the sort of treachery is the reason why I have been forced to bring back such stringent regulations, Lieutenant,” he explained, a bit too smoothly for me. There wasn’t even a hint of shock, no sharp intake of breath at what should have been a stunning revelation. Maybe he knew from his investigations, but if that were the truth, I
was a Chinese space pirate. “Thankfully, you are as resourceful as the stories and mission logs state. However, without the proper means to resuscitate Dr. Garmin, I don’t know what else we can do but abort your mission.”
It was almost amusing how Mina was almost word-for-word speaking my thoughts to me in that sexy voice of hers. “And put us in the care of another traitor of a pilot. Maybe this Bullet will be filled with a whole squad of bugs, huh?”
I didn’t laugh though. I had a part to play still. “Hold off that recall button, Commissioner. Our squad medic has devised a homebrew antidote to the sedatives in Dr. Garmin’s system. We’ll have her back on her feet and ready to test the virus by daybreak Turan time.”
That shocked him. That got that little sharp stutter of breath for me. To his credit, Reynolds corrected himself in a jiffy. “That is indeed excellent news. For now, carry on with the mission. I will expect an update on Dr. Garmin’s status in four hours. We will reevaluate the mission parameters then. Good job, Marine.”
“Thank you, sir.” I faked a stifled yawn. “Do you have any other orders for us, sir?”
“Not at the moment. Get some rest while you can, Ryder.” There was a faint edge to his voice that made me feel uncomfortable. “You are going to need your strength for the days ahead.”
“Of course, sir. Ryder out.”
On cue, Annabelle cut transmission, and as I came out of the coms, I glanced over to see that Mina had joined me in the little pocket alcove I was in.
Nodding at her, I sighed. “So, what do you think?”
“Why don’t you tell me, Mark?” she said, tone flat as she crossed her arms over her chest. “You’ve seen everything that’s up there.”
Ouch. Well, as much as I didn’t really deserve the snark, she had the right. She couldn’t have known that I didn’t know what would happen. “I’m sorry, Mina. I didn’t – “
Mina punched me in the shoulder, hard enough to rock me a little sideways but I didn’t really feel it through the suit. “Shut it. You don’t have to apologize. First off, you’re not only the C.O. right now, but you’re also Mark fucking Ryder. Secondly, when did some new fancy upgrade from Alliance R & D actually work as you thought it would the first time you used it?”
Laughing, I turned towards her. “Yeah, you’re right on both counts. Still, it wasn’t my intention. Now, with that under the bridge, seriously, what do you think about this?”
“The same as you, I imagine.” Mina ran her hands down her face, helmet off now that we were protected by the biofield of the camp kits. “That we are in deep, way deep, and it is at least seventy percent likely that Commissioner Reynolds has his hands in this entire mess. I don’t know why, I can’t see an obvious angle for him, but as we discussed earlier – “
“It doesn’t matter one bit,” I finished for her with a nod. “Well, we can’t turn back. I’m sure Rayne isn’t part of whatever conspiracy is going on, so if we can get this virus of hers going, we’ll at least do some good, plus it will keep Reynolds thinking we’re ignorant of what’s going on.”
“Play the dumb jarheads, yes,” Mina agreed. “But we need to start planning an endgame. If we assume Reynolds sabotaged our transport in, he’s not going to let us get off this planet alive.”
“I’d love to see him try to stop us.” I would tear apart heaven and earth to not only get us out of here alive but to get Della to safety too, if she was still alive. No, fuck that, she was alive, I had to believe that.
She grinned fiercely. “I’m down with that.” Mina tilted her head back to the main cave. “The only question I have left is do we tell the girls?”
“They deserve to know, as I’ve always said, but let me sleep on it.” As much as I wanted to be open, this wasn’t just about the mission. This was deeper and darker than that. Not telling them might give them some insulation against repercussions from the top brass … or it might make them slip up and get killed anyway.
“Understood.” Mina stepped back. “Now, if I don’t leave now, I don’t think either of us will get any sleep.” The wink and smirk she shot me told me that she was one-hundred-and-ten percent right.
21
“You should be sleeping,” Claire’s voice sounded from behind me. It had been about an hour since Mina had left me after my enlightening conversation with the Commissioner. Everyone had retired to sections of the cave to rest while they could.
I hadn’t though. While Mina, Jill, and (I had presumed) Claire were sleeping off this total trainwreck, or maybe shipwreck was a better word, of day, I was standing stalwart. My mind moved too fast. My spirit was too tense. There was too much at stake, especially after my chat with Reynolds.
So, instead of catching up on some much-needed winks, I was watching the still-unconscious doctor, waiting for something else to go sideways.
Sure, on the surface, we were doing okay, all things considered. We had what we needed to rouse Rayne from her slumber, and once that happened, the immediate mission would fall into place. I had Annabelle run a scan (or twelve) around the surrounding perimeter. There was nothing for as far as she could see, which was pretty damn far. In fact, the map leading us to the spot where Rayne needed to be, a valley about a mile and a half from here, looked pretty empty. This should be simple, but simple was always misleading.
It wasn’t even about Della’s life being in the balance or the slight sick twist in my gut knowing that the leader of the Alliance was, in some way, a traitor. Maybe I was feeling like this because Mina was right. Maybe something inside of me was telling me this would end up like all the other long shots I had seen come and go in my life. Maybe the reason I was so gung-ho on seeing this through to the end was that, like Mina, I was exhausted.
You see, I had hit a goal no one else had ever hit before. For my efforts, I hadn’t been given a gold watch or a pat on the back. I hadn’t even been given a ‘good job.’ I had been given a brand-new machine to do their bidding in. I had been given a shinier casket to die in, and an assurance that when I did, children all over my planet would speak my name in reverence.
And truth be told, I’d be okay with that if that meant what it should. That’s when it gelled in my brain, why I was thinking like this. I’d be okay with dying a martyr’s death if it helped win the war or save another generation of Marines from the hell I had endured. After talking to Reynolds and smelling his stink, the smell of corruption that let humans sabotage their best hope of salvation and murder their own, I couldn’t be sure that if I died here, he wouldn’t turn my memory into some mockery, a talking head for his own schemes.
The real question was if I was going to let that happen.
“I should be doing a lot of things,” I answered as I turned to the young, nubile medic. “I should be fishing in the Mississippi. I should be getting fat on corn cobs and blackberry cobbler. I should be watching children play at my feet and fighting with my wife about whose turn it is to do the dishes.” I shook my head. “But I have a heavy decision to make before we move our feet in the morning.”
“God in Heaven,” Claire muttered, walking over to me. “Don’t tell me it broke you. Don’t tell me this life has finally taken its toll on the great Mark Ryder. I’m not sure I could take that.”
I laughed, long and loud. I didn’t worry about waking the others. The first thing you learn as an Infinity Marine is how to sleep through anything that isn’t a full-scale bombardment. “Oh, little lady, you have got a lot to learn if you think I’ll ever break. Bend, sure, maybe even crack a little, but I’m not broken.”
That’s all it took for everything to snap into clarity and it also made me realize what I cherished about Claire. Mina complimented me, was my other half, but Claire challenged me. She would spit in my face the moment she thought I deserved it and while most of the time she’d be wrong, it always spurred me to action. It was just what I needed at that moment.
My decision was obvious. I’d tell the girls everything in the morning, and then we were going to not o
nly plant this virus right up the bugs’ asses, but we’d also blaze a trail across the galaxy to shove my boot right up Reynolds’s backside and break my foot off inside his ass.
“Well, thank God for that! I thought you were about to drop some crap in my lap and call it some deep truth or something. The bugs will drop some truth on me soon enough, along with whatever else they’ve got planned.” She shook her head slightly. “Besides, that’s not what I came here for.”
I had a feeling she would say something like that. After all, neither of us was wearing our suits. I was dressed in a shirt and boxers, and she was wearing a long white tee shirt and black panties you could see through the white. She bit her lower lip and grinned as she looked me up and down.
“Oh, really?” I asked, looking down as Claire ran her hand up my arm. Her fingers, grazing slightly against me, tickled as she rested against my shoulder. I thought back to one of my few happy memories from our last trip to this blasted moon, what Claire and I did in a cave not too different from this very one we were in. “What did you come here for?”
“The same thing I did, I’d wager,” a familiar voice called out from one side. Looking over, I saw Jill walking toward us. Her purple hair was pulled up, leaving her shoulders bare and on display. She wore a lavender gown, the kind you might expect to see in one of those sorority porn movies and definitely not draped around a Marine on active duty. Still, she was in it, and she was right here.
“You slut,” Claire cooed, looking over at Jill and grinning as the purple haired woman bridged the gap.
“You’re one to talk,” Jill said, settling next to me and placing her hand on the shoulder Claire wasn’t already occupying. Their scents mingled together, mixing into a sweet and overpowering thing that made me wonder what it might be like if other things mixed together tonight. “I just came out here to talk.”
“Sure, you did,” Claire scoffed at the girl.
Doomed Infinity Marine 2: A Space Adventure (Bug Wars) Page 10