Overthrowing Heaven-ARC

by Mark L. Van Name

Park cut off the woman. "It's not just about keeping these people safe," he said, "or about managing them when they're rowdy. It's about the illusion we sell: Wonder Island is an unspoiled garden teeming with amazing creatures you can't see anywhere else. If you spot a security guard, you start wondering just how nice the garden really is. If we do our jobs right, the civilians never know we exist."

  "Isn't that always the case?" I said.

  "Everywhere I've ever fought," Park said, nodding his head. "Now, let's move on."

  They'd turned a landing hangar into a makeshift training ground by scattering crates here and there throughout the enormous permacrete room. The containers ranged in size from a meter square to almost five meters on a side, and the gap between any two of them was always at least four meters. Park had split us into two teams: the woman and I on one, the three other remaining candidates on the other. None of us had names on our uniforms, but it didn't matter; we didn't have comm connections to each other, either. All we had were vests, helmets, rifles with flexible rounds that would bruise but not penetrate, and a comm link to Park.

  He stood in the center of the room and pointed to the doll sitting on a chair beside him.

  My partner and I were thirty meters apart on the wall to his right. Our three opponents were on the opposite wall. Each of us was about seventy meters from the center.

  "Everybody on Heaven comes to Wonder Island," he said. "They bring their friends, their families, anyone and everyone. We've had kidnapping attempts. This is your chance to show us how well you'd handle one by rescuing my cute little friend here."

  What crap. They were short on people to protect Wei, and they were seeing who might be useful. Fine by me; I'd show them.

  "The rules are simple," Park said. "The first one to take the doll to safety wins, and if you shoot it, your team loses. That's it. If you're hit and you can keep moving, feel free to do so. If you're too hurt to continue, stop."

  "But our team is short a person," my partner said.

  Hadn't she learned yet?

  "Thank your partner for sending your other teammate home early," Park said.

  The lights dimmed, as if twilight had fallen indoors.

  "Go on my signal," he said. He jogged to the wall on my far left, faced the center, and said, "Start."

  My partner looked at me; she obviously had no idea what to do.

  I waved her toward the doll.

  She stalked forward.

  I scanned the area and found the perfect spot about twenty meters to my right and ten ahead: a three-meter tall container bathed in shadow. I dashed to it, jumped, grabbed the top, and as quietly as I could manage pulled myself onto the huge crate. I stretched out, switched my vision to IR, and trained the rifle's sights on the area on the far side of the doll.

  I'm not the best shot I've known, not by a long mark, and I don't practice enough to be as good as I once was, but sniping from a stationary position eighty or fewer meters from my target was within my capabilities. My partner would head for the doll, and she'd make it or she wouldn't, but either way she'd draw the opposition's attention.

  I waited and watched for signs of movement.

  The first one appeared along the wall to my right, opposite Park. A man was moving slowly and quietly, crouching and walking from cover to cover. The other two showed a moment later, sprinting down the center and making a bit of noise. Not a horrible strategy: Take advantage of their numerical advantage by distracting us with the two center people while the third went wide.

  My partner stopped when she heard the center duo coming and crouched behind a small container. She bumped it, and it scraped loudly on the permacrete floor.

  The two center men on the other side stopped.

  I ignored them and focused on the one going wide. He had kept moving, but slowly, quietly, taking advantage of the distraction the other two provided.

  It was only a training exercise, I knew that, and yet the adrenaline was coursing in me and I was ready to go, go, go. I breathed slowly through my nose and sighted on the edge of the container where the third man should appear next.

  Two seconds later, he stepped out. He had maybe five meters of open space to cross before he would be behind cover again. I let him get two meters out, led him slightly, and double-tapped at his body.

  He fell onto his side and shrieked.

  I immediately shot him in the groin and then the bottom leg.

  He writhed in pain and shouted unintelligibly.

  Good; I couldn't have him getting up.

  I flattened on the top of the crate and waited. Half a dozen shots whizzed in the air around and above me, but nothing came close. They'd missed with their initial rounds, as I'd hoped, and were now just firing in the direction of the noise.

  I reached down, quietly pulled off my shoes, and lofted one to my left, toward my partner. I then focused again through the rifle's sight.

  One of the opposition bought it, assumed we were heading back near one another, and charged my partner.

  She sat up so she could aim, squeezed off a round, and sprawled backward as one hit her in the chest.

  The guy who was running at her stumbled as her round grazed his shoulder, but he kept coming.

  His partner watched from cover, his weapon trained on the vicinity of my downed partner, where he hoped I was.

  The guy who was running made it to within a meter of my partner and stopped.

  I shot four times in rapid succession. Three rounds connected, two to his body and one to his left leg. He went down hard, his head bouncing off the permacrete.

  His partner fired in my direction.

  As soon as I heard the shots I kicked the crate, moaned loudly, rolled off its side, hung for a second with one hand, and landed on my feet. I moaned again, but softer, as if fighting for control, then quickly looped to my right, away from the fire and toward the rear wall. As soon as I had a clear line of sight on the chair and the doll, I paused and scanned the area.

  The remaining opposition man had made it to a crate on the edge of the open area.

  I could see his rifle's barrel but no more of him.

  He waited.

  So did I.

  After several seconds, he risked a quick glance around the corner, his head appearing and disappearing quickly.

  I did nothing.

  He checked the doll again, his head visible a little longer this time.

  When it disappeared, I ran to another of the smaller crates, braced myself on it, and sighted on where he'd been.

  He dashed across the open area, heading for his partner.

  I led him for a second, then fired four shots rapidly.

  One connected with his body and shoved him sideways.

  I sprinted from my location as he slammed into the ground.

  He rolled onto his back and brought up his rifle.

  I stopped, sighted, and shot him in the stomach and then the groin.

  He rolled around on the permacrete floor.

  I ran for him, grabbed his weapon, then his partner's, and then my partner's. The last guy and my partner were gasping for air and trying to curse. The man who'd hit his head was out. I took their weapons over to the chair with the doll, traded mine for my partner's, dropped off the others, and ran for the first guy I'd shot.

  He was still down, unconscious from pain.

  I collected his weapon and ran back to the doll. I stood beside it and said, "She's safe."

  The lights snapped on to full bright.

  Park walked toward me. "She may be, but is anyone who trains with you?"

  "That depends," I said, "on how good they are and what kind of training we're doing."

  He laughed. "I suppose it does."

  "You think that's funny?" Rhionne Ng appeared through a doorway near where Park had watched the exercise. "I don't. You may have cost me several half-decent candidates, and it'll sure as hell be a long time before any of them will trust you again."

  "If they trusted less and thought more,
" I said, "they might have been more of a challenge."

  Park stopped and watched as Ng walked over to me.

  She stopped a meter away, spread her legs, and clenched her fists. Her arms were at her sides, but the posture was unmistakable. "Oh, you like challenges, do you, Moore? Fine. Feel like trying your luck on someone with a little more training?"

  Chapter 39

  No matter what the heroic tales of tormented, new-meat soldiers say, you almost never win when you fight someone commanding you. The system can't afford for you to win, because it has to preserve the almost mystical power of the chain of command. They train you and train you and train you until you will follow orders without hesitation, because any other outcome can jeopardize the greater plan and, most of the time, everyone else in your unit. The only time the system can let you beat a superior officer is when you're in the field, on a combat mission, and everyone agrees the leader is destroying them and has to go. Then and only then, one of you can fight and kill a commander—though it's better, of course, if you just skip the fighting part and catch the target unaware.

  I was not in that situation here, and though Ng was a jerk, that was hardly enough reason to kill her, so I couldn't afford to win.

  On the other hand, I didn't want to come across as thoughtful or considerate or anything other than a hard-ass who would do whatever it took to finish the job. I did, however, have to appear smart enough to know the basic rules, or they'd never trust me with any assignment more complex than playing nursemaid to their special animals.

  So, I had to argue a bit, then I had to fight her, and then I had to lose.

  This was not going to be fun.

  "Sure," I said, staring at her and summoning as much anger as I could while maintaining control, "I'd enjoy that. I'd like a job more, though, and beating up your boss doesn't help you get hired."

  "Moore is done for the day," Park said, "and he's more than earned the job. We don't need to do this."

  "I didn't ask your opinion," Ng said without looking away from me. "Moore, if that's your worry, relax; you've got the job. I'm just tired of watching you play the bad boy with these children, and I don't believe you're as tough as you think you are. You don't seem to be able to learn to behave on your own, so I thought I'd help teach you. No penalties: If you think you're up to it, take your best shot." She shrugged. "I don't think you've got the stones for it."

  If the person you're fighting doesn't know what he or she is doing, or if they're weak enough that you can simply absorb what little punishment they can dish out, then you engage, keep them close so they don't realize you're faking it, and wait for the right moment to fall down and surrender.

  Ng, though, gave every indication of understanding combat very well, and her strength was obvious. Her voice was angry, but her face was composed and calm; she was baiting the meat. Her stance was solid, her weight on the balls of her feet, and she was sufficiently loose that she could move easily in any direction. She'd stepped close enough to me to provoke me but stayed out of reach of a single punch. I'd have to move forward to get to her, and she knew it.

  To maintain credibility, I'd have to do some damage to her, then take more, enough more that she'd buy me quitting.

  This was definitely not going to be fun.

  "No penalties?" I said. "You guarantee that?" I glanced at Park and as I did, I shifted my weight to my front foot. "What about you, Sarge?"

  "Her call," Park said. "She runs the show."

  "That's right," Ng said, "and I already answered you. Or are you just trying to buy time until I get bored?"

  I shot a low outside kick at her front leg with my rear leg. I hit nothing but air as she lifted her leg and pulled back just in time to get out of the way. I let the momentum carry me part of the way around and whipped a back fist at her as she launched herself at me.

  She blocked it but I still managed to slam her arm against her head with the force of my blow.

  She grunted but continued ahead and slammed into my back before I could move again.

  I tried to let the momentum carry me forward, but I felt her left hand grab my left shoulder and stop me.

  I spun down and to my left to shake the grip and get to the outside of her.

  She let go of me and pivoted toward me so that when I stopped moving she had a momentary shot at my body. She kicked me hard in the crotch.

  I forced myself to stay standing and not double over. The nanomachines helped by blocking the pain a moment after it started lancing through me, but that moment was all the opening she needed.

  She threw a big left at the side of my neck.

  I hunched and turned so that most of the blow landed on my shoulder, but some of it connected with my neck.

  The nanomachines blocked the pain almost immediately, but I felt the shot enough to know that it was more than enough excuse to fall, so I put my right leg behind my left and tripped myself as if retreating too fast. I hit the permacrete hard but was able to absorb enough of the impact with my arms and shoulders that I was okay.

  I held up my hand as if to ward her off, but she was already on top of me and grabbed my wrist and twisted.

  Damn but she was strong and fast.

  "You've got potential, Moore," she said, her breathing as calm and shallow as if she'd just finished reviewing a boring duty roster, "but you need to remember your place around here if you're ever going to earn a chance to realize that potential." She twisted my wrist a bit more.

  The anger surged in me, and I wanted to show her what I could really do. I wanted to kick her off me and beat her into a pulp. In the flood of adrenaline she was every jerk who'd ever hurt me, and this was my chance to pay them all back.

  Instead, I swallowed the emotion, nodded my head, and whispered, "Okay," as if I couldn't speak any louder.

  She released my wrist, stepped over me, and headed toward Park.

  "Talk to him," she said to Park. "Tell him how good a deal this job can be if he learns to be a good team player."

  As she strolled away, she added, "And explain how short and unpleasant his stay can be if he doesn't."

  Chapter 40

  Park walked over to me and extended his hand, but I ignored the offer and stood on my own; I'd had enough of showing my belly.

  "She's quicker than you thought," he said.

  I nodded. "That she is."

  A few moans and the sound of uniforms scraping on permacrete filled the air. I glanced behind me and saw the three people I'd left in a cluster all starting to stand.

  "You lot," Park said, his voice booming with authority, "dust yourselves off, catch your breath, and fall in along the rear wall."

  He pointed at me. "You," he said. "Walk with me." He set out quickly for the corner of the hangar farthest from the rest of the applicants.

  I caught up to him in a few strides and fell into step beside him.

  "You're not a criminal," Park said, "or at least not a stupid one, because we don't have any data to suggest you've done jail time. You were smart enough not to start anything with Ng right away, but then either your temper got the best of you or you decided to engage her knowing you had to lose. I'm betting on the second, because you served with the Saw long enough that you had to know exactly what she was doing. Which is it?"

  I shrugged and said nothing.

  We reached the corner, and he leaned against it so he could watch both me and the other applicants.

  My back was to the huge room, so I moved to the wall beside him.

  He chuckled. "I didn't think you could stand there for long. No one with any real training would." His expression turned serious. "You have the background. You've served with a great force. There's always a need for people like us, and you could make a whole lot more money doing work you've done before. So what's the real reason you're here?"

  I hesitated, because I hadn't expected to have to explain anything beyond the obvious need for income. By not answering immediately, however, I now had to tell him a lie that l
et him eventually get to a truth. I stared at him for a few more seconds, then said, "The woman who's keeping me on Heaven isn't willing to leave this planet, she brow-beat me into taking an apartment I didn't want, and I'm not ready to give her up, so I need a job. As for why this job, well, let's just leave it at me needing a paycheck, you offering one, and no one shooting at me here."

  "No," Park said, "let's not. That's not good enough. We could use a few more people who know what they're doing, and you obviously have the potential to be one of them, but not if I don't understand what I'm getting into. If all you need is a job, why aren't you trying to work for Heaven's militia or the EC?"

  Now I had to steer as close to the truth as I could. I waited several seconds, lowered my voice, and said, "I did some work on a planet in another sector, work that involved the EC. I delivered what I promised, but I think it's safe to say that the EC wasn't thrilled with me when it was all over."

  "That jibes with what little data we were able to get," Park said, "though the EC doesn't seem to have much information on you, and none of what they would show us involves you contracting for them."

  It wouldn't, but I wasn't going to explain to him why. I'd barely escaped that particular mess, and I definitely wasn't going to prod the EC about it.

  "In any case," Park said, "the EC won't know you're taking this job, because we're sure not going to tell them. Frankly, one of the things I like about Heaven is that its government doesn't bend over for either major federation."

  I hesitated again, not sure how far to push it with Park. Finally, I said, "As for the militia, all I can say is that my experience with planetary government fighting teams is that they're a step down from the topnotch merc companies. Joining them after being in the Saw just didn't make sense."

  "You did pick up that you're working for Heaven's government here," he said, "though admittedly indirectly."

  "Yeah, but like I said, nobody's shooting at me here, and no one's likely to send me into combat."

  Park chuckled again. "Not as such, I suppose," he said, "though we're hiring because one of our teams ran into something it couldn't handle."