“If he keeps this up,” she said to him quietly. “She won’t agree to anything and nor will the rest of us,” He looked around, but they had a fair bit of space to themselves and everyone was studiously working away. No one so much as glanced in their direction.
“Cut him some slack, Major.” Sneaker said, in a tone quiet. “Don’t forget, you may do this for a living, but neither Billy nor I do.”
“You’ve both run operations before. You’ve told me so yourself and they’ve been some good ones.” As part of building their Alliance, the three of them sat down and talked through their various skills and experiences.
“Running a Job is one thing or those raids the Rebellion have been executing, but this is completely different.”
“Why?”
“It’s the scale, first of all. Billy has committed over four hundred fighters to this operation, plus another thousand people in support and that doesn’t include this freighter. This ship is his command post and if he loses it, that’s not something his organisation can come back from easily. He’s bet, what I would guess, is a sizeable proportion of his resources on this roll of the dice. Now his pay-out is sitting just over there, almost in reach.
“My nerves are stretched almost to breaking point and I don’t have nearly the amount of exposure to this as he does. The waiting is the worst part. We’re just sitting here out in space, with a Legion Battle group within reach of us. If they turned right now and came straight at us, we wouldn’t have time to recover the shuttles before we had to jump into hyperspace.”
The blonde woman smiled at him. “I get it, I do. I’ve left almost everything behind and now ninety-five percent of what I do have is over there as well,” she shook her head. “We can’t let that get to us. We continue the mission and we complete it.”
“I’m sure he knows that. Billy’s a smart guy. He just has a lot riding on what is, by anyone’s definition, long odds, and he’s frustrated by his inability to affect the outcome.”
“You’re right and I’ll try not to be so antagonistic if his nerves get the better of him again.” Forlani sighed and shook her head again. “When Valerie’s safe on board ship, we’ll all be having words with her.”
Sneaker couldn’t help but grin back. “And what makes you think she’ll care for an instant what we have to say?” The response he got was not what he was expecting. The expression he saw on Forlani’s face was of abject sorrow.
“From what I’ve heard from Hanna, Deni and you, not much. When I knew her, she would have. She would have cared a great deal about what her friends thought.” She stood up straight, shook her head, as though to clear it of that morbid thought, and looked at the main display. “The shuttles are two minutes out.”
Sneaker nodded in understanding. He could tell she didn’t want to continue the conversation. “I’ll check in on Hanna and see if the Rock’s guards are still being nice and quiet.” He went back to his seat.
“I had better apologise to her for cutting her off while I’m at it,” he muttered to himself. He knew he was going to get an earful.
***
Briseis stopped in the tunnel ahead and held up her hand, fist clenched. Julianna halted with those around her. Carter was just ahead of her, with Troll and Barney to either side. The other two Spartans, Cheimon and Phrike brought up the rear. There were spare sets of MP armour identical to her own in the Scarab shuttle. Carter and the three Spartans exchanged what they took from the guards for the more powerful suits. Fortunately there had been a large number available, just in case they needed to equip the prisoners to fight, including enough large female armour to outfit the Spartans.
Julianna was used to being looked at for having overly large shoulders for a woman. She wasn’t as big as Shadow Company’s Lieutenant Aycox, who took body building to the extreme, but with her extensive martial arts training, Julianna wasn’t small. The Spartans made her look like a ballerina in comparison. She looked forward to seeing what Lucy Aycox made of them.
The seven of them were here in the tunnels searching for the Rock’s Commandant. Julianna wasn’t sure why they were bothering. After a surprisingly brief greeting of Troll and Barney, Carter asked them to accompany her on this hunt. She already had the three Spartans with her and Julianna knew she wasn’t needed, but she couldn’t let her last surviving team members go off without her.
They were in an unlit, horizontal lift tunnel, tracking the Rock’s Commandant. Hanna spotted him at the last intersection, a couple of hundred metres behind them and there were lights further up. With the MP armour they didn’t need any lights to illuminate the way. The Commandant did, although his two escorting guards were in their armour, the Commandant himself was dressed in normal fashionable, clothes common amongst the Privileged, with an emergency enviro suit over the top.
Only sound could give their team away. For Valerie and the Spartans, it was like their feet didn’t even touch the ground, they gave off no noise whatsoever. Troll and Barney were not that good, but still caused less noise than a mouse between them. Of all of them, Julianna was the least experienced at moving silently and she knew she wasn’t a slouch.
The seven of them waited in the dark, watching the lights bobbing ahead of them in the tunnel. When there was no sign their prey had noticed the teams presence, Briseis waved for them to continue.
The ground ahead was smooth permacrete, the walls curving up around them to meet overhead seamlessly. Briseis picked up the pace. Carter waved for Julianna and the rest to continue on, but let Briseis get ahead of them, and sped up herself to catch up. Julianna enhanced the resolution on her helmet and watched the dark shapes of Briseis and Carter moving through the tunnel.
The two guards were caught completely unawares. Carter went for the Commandant first, a kick to the back of the leg and a short quick blow with her left fist, dropped him quickly. She moved so fast the guard on the Commandant’s right only started to turn towards her. Her back fist hit him squarely in the visor. He fell back, spinning to the ground.
When Carter hit the guard on the right, Briseis tackled the one on the left. The butt of her rifle hit him in the stomach as he turned, then came up to meet his descending head. The blow snapped his head back and in one smooth motion, Briseis spun her rifle, putting a burst into his face.
To finish hers off, Carter kicked him solidly in the body where he lay on the ground, unslung her own rifle and put a burst of her own into him. The attack took less time, from Carter kicking the Commandant, to the last Pulse burst, than it took Julianna to move forward two more steps.
“Is he alive?” Troll asked as they caught up. Briseis and Carter chose not to shoot the guards initially. They wanted to make sure the Commandant would not get caught in the crossfire.
“Yeah, he’s fine.” Carter answered as she picked up the limp and presumably unconscious man from the floor. “I didn’t hit him very hard. He’ll wake up in a few minutes. We’ll head back to that last intersection. I saw a maintenance room there we can use. Briseis, take point and pick up the pace. We don’t need to be quiet anymore.”
“Yes, Valerie,” the tall Spartan said and must have taken Carter at her word. The pace she set was a hard one, Julianna quickly found herself breathing heavily. They all ran along the tunnel, the Commandant slung unceremoniously over Carter’s shoulder. The woman kept her pace with the rest easily, not showing the least sign the extra weight was slowing her down.
Julianna knew she would be able to manage that feat and she guessed the Spartans would as well. Carter was practically half their size and, although the same height as Julianna, she would be easily described as slender. Then she remembered the alleyway next to the Green Man in Zeus and her cousin, who was not a small man, being held off the ground by this woman. With one hand.
Along with idolising her cousin, Julianna grew up with stories about Carter, about Battleborn. Now she had met her and seen her in action, she didn’t know what to make of her. Carter was brusque with Troll and Barney, two of
the people who came to rescue her and then taken them all careening off on this errand. The way she captured the Commandant and killed the guard was quick and clean, but so was Briseis. What was it about this woman that inspired the legend of Battleborn? How could she be so strong with her physique? There were a lot of questions Julianna wanted answered. Right now, it included, why they captured the Commandant.
The room was right where Carter said it would be and she waved Troll forward to deal with the lock.
“Careful, Troll,” Julianna said. “Watch for those energy grenades.”
“Really, Julianna?” Troll replied. “I hadn’t considered that. It has been a whole three hours since Beaumont lost her arm.”
“Don’t blame me if you’re left with only using a pistol for the rest of your life.” Julianna shot back.
“What energy grenades?” Cheimon asked.
“We were clearing rooms parallel to the main corridor,” Troll answered without looking up from working on the door lock.
“The guards tried some sort of layered defence,” Julianna didn’t want Troll distracted and took over the story. “They fitted every door lock with an energy grenade. If you tried to go into it, you’d lose an arm. I lost two of my people to the first one.”
“Well, this time they haven’t,” Troll reported as the door opened and the lights came on inside.
“Briseis, stay out here with the rest and keep an eye out,” Carter ordered. “I won’t be long.”
“I’m coming with you,” Julianna told the woman. Carter turned and looked at her with the coldest eyes she had ever seen. Julianna wanted to take a step back and do as Carter ordered, but she made herself stand her ground, meeting that icy gaze.
The moment stretched out, no one moving, until finally Carter gave a short nod and strode inside without another word. Swallowing heavily and breathing a deep sigh of relief, despite herself, Julianna followed her in. She saw Briseis organising the rest into a loose formation in the intersection around the door, before it slid shut.
The room was obviously a nexus maintenance point for the lifts and tunnels. There were several work tables and chairs, with parts and equipment lining the walls. Carter picked up a chair and placed it in the centre of the room, dropping the Commandant into it. He stirred slightly, showing signs he was beginning to come round. Carter stepped back, handed her rifle to Julianna and waited. Julianna leaned up against the wall next to the door and watched for what Carter was going to do next.
The Commandant looked up. His eyes were bleary as he took in the room around him. He took a few seconds to study Julianna and then focused on Carter, who stood right in front of him. Julianna was impressed. He was obviously not a stupid man. Despite being captured and knocked unconscious, he recognised the main danger was Carter. He gave himself a few extra seconds to get himself together, before acknowledging her. In all likelihood, the Rock trained for situations like this.
“Who are you people?”
“My name is Valerie Carter.”
His eyes danced across Carter’s armour before going back to meet her eyes. “You’re one of my prisoners. Why did they give you the armour? Are you the reason my prison has been attacked?”
“I was. The rest doesn’t matter,” Carter said in that cold voice of hers.
“It very much does to me. Captain Percival says we were attacked by a Devil unit called Shadow Company. What do you have to do with them? Were you sent here to infiltrate the Rock, to pave the way for this attack, and discredit the Polledo family?”
Julianna raised her eyebrows at his question. With the Company here, he thought it was all part of some elaborate plot and her mind raced. For the Privileged Families of the Pantheon, that would be the only explanation. With the Spectre and a Legion Commando Devil Company leading the attack, the Rebellion would be one of the last they would think responsible. None of the inter-Family plots and squabbles her father told her about were anything like this. The Families preferred less bloody forms of confrontations in their ongoing power struggles, but it wasn’t beyond the realms of possibility.
She wanted to say something to Carter, to try and get her to steer Commandant Polledo in the right direction. It was possible they could leave here and keep the Rebellion out of it. The Pantheon leadership would not want to admit publicly, they lost a top secret stealth prototype or one of their most successful units. Billy may wish for it to be known otherwise, it proved the Rebellion were a forced to be reckoned with. There were some very good reasons for keeping quiet, though, and it would be Billy’s decision. Julianna wanted to make sure he would have the opportunity to choose.
Julianna opened her mouth, but she didn’t know what to say. How could she warn Carter without tipping off the Commandant? He had proved his intellect and unless she did it right, he would realise he was being played. Carter took it out of her hands.
“Hanna, kill the cameras in here,” the other woman said over their com. It was only audible to them and not the Commandant.
“Done,” was the immediate response.
“What did Cestari say about me?” Carter asked the Commandant.
“I’m not playing your game anymore, Carter. If he wants me dead, get it over with. Do not waste both of our time.”
Carter leaned forward almost casually. She took hold of the Commandant’s left hand in her right. “Arrgghh. Stop it. You’re going to break my hand!” he shouted.
Julianna watched the blood drain from his face. He reached desperately with his right grabbing hold of the top of Carter’s hand, pulling at it. He might as well have been trying to move a permacrete post, for all the good he did. Carter didn’t even try to stop him. It was only when he started punching her, she grabbed his wrist and held him back.
All the while she didn’t let go. There seemed to be no tension in her body and the Commandant screamed louder and louder, his cries reverberating off the walls. Julianna knew her armour would effectively double her strength, but the Commandant’s Enviro suit was designed to deal with the harsh conditions caused by a catastrophic failure of a ship’s hull, including being hit by flying debris or collapsing structures. The Company’s FPB armour would be capable of crushing the hand of a man in an Enviro suit, not the MP armour Carter was wearing.
Julianna jumped involuntarily as she heard the crack of the Commandant’s glove. His scream rose in pitch and was swiftly followed by the snapping and popping of his bones grinding together. Carter let go and leaned back. The Commandant hunched over his pulverised hand, still screaming. Slowly he quietened. The suit registered his injury and automatically injected him with painkillers.
“Now, answer my question,” Carter told him with no more emotion than she used earlier. There was no sign in her voice she had just crushed a man’s hand. If he survived his time in this room, the Privileged doctors would need to replace that hand with a cloned one. The damage Carter had done could not be fixed easily.
“Why? You’re just going to kill me!”
“Yes I am. I’ll just have to do the other hand first.”
The Commandant threw all his weight back in the chair. Frantically trying to get away. The chair toppled over and he rolled to one side, scrabbling to his knees. There was no escape. She didn’t even have to use any of the extra speed Julianna saw earlier. He was on his knees, the uninjured hand holding him up, the other cradled to his chest. She simply reached down and grabbed the hand on the floor and pulled it up to her waist. The Commandant dropped face down onto the floor with a cry.
Carter wrapped her hand around his slowly, almost lovingly.
“Don’t, please don’t!” he shouted.
“Tell me.”
“Nothing. There was nothing about you. Only to put you in general population, isolate you, only I can talk to you!”
“Anything else?”
He slumped down, all the fight having been taken from him.
“They warned me. The warned me and I didn’t listen. They said you were dangerous.”
&nbs
p; “Yes, I am.” The move was so swift, Julianna almost thought she imagined it. Carter drew the Pulse pistol at her waist and shot the Commandant through his visor, right between the eyes.
“Shit!” Julianna jerked upright in shock and surprise.
Carter turned and took her rifle from Julianna’s unresisting hand. “He doesn’t know anything.”
“About what? You didn’t ask him any questions!”
“I asked him what I needed to know.” Carter opened the door and stepped through. Julianna was frustrated by the response, but all she could do was follow her out.
“Alright, everyone,” Carter said. “We’re done. Let’s get back, they should have swapped the cells around by now and released the men. Hopefully your Lochagos will be among those in our Wing, Briseis. I’m sure he will have a lot of questions and it’ll be easier if you’re there to answer them.”
“We all have many questions, friend Valerie,” Briseis replied. “It is not the time, while still at risk to ask them. They will come later and my sisters assembling in the bay will be there to greet him.”
“Wouldn’t they have taken the first opportunity to get off this Rock?” Troll asked. “I know I certainly would have. I can’t believe I’m still here as it is.”
“No, we are Spartans and we are Wild Eagle Lochas. We do not leave any of our brothers and sisters in danger.”
“What did Carter mean by your Lochagos?” Julianna asked as they all moved off down the corridor, towards the wing’s landing bay. Carter took point and went so far forward, it looked like she was deliberately putting distance between herself and the rest of them. If Julianna couldn’t get any answers out of Carter, then she could find all she could about the Spartans. Before meeting them over an hour ago, she had never heard of Sparta before.
“Lochagos Kydoimos is our Captain.”
“Of your ship?”
“No, that is Trierarch Otrera. She commanded our ship before it was lost. A Lochagos is the commander of our Lochas. What you would call a mercenary company.”
Crusade For Vengeance (Dark Vengeance Book 2) Page 43