by M. D. Cooper
“He’ll make it,” Williams grunted. “But he’ll get a nice bit of R&R time while they put all his tendons and arteries back in place.”
He rose, calling for the leader of two/one. “Corporal Salas! Lang is your number one priority. Two/two can stay here; you take Lang to TSF med facility AR13, it’s only a thousand miles from here. Get him there safe.”
“Aye, Sarge.” Salas nodded and gestured for two of his Marines to unfold a field stretcher for Lang. Within moments they were trotting down the cross corridor to the nearest maglev.
Tanis looked at Jansen. “You good, Marine?”
The corporal’s eyes had cleared up, a steely determination having set in. “Sir, yes, sir.”
“Glad to hear it.” Tanis smiled. “OK team, we need to recharge, reammo, and head out. Cassar, breach that ammo dump and pass out power packs and slugs.”
“Aye, sir.” Cassar nodded and went to work. Two minutes later they had left the plaza, Lance Corporal Olsen having been left to fend off the MSF unit that had arrived and was trying to take control of the situation. Having heard what happened at the last run-in between the two forces, the MSF weren’t eager to get in a fight with the Marines. Two/three was on its way to back them up before everyone dispersed to cover the beta return route.
The escort only had a quarter mile more of corridor to pass through and then they took a tubelift up to the highest level of the ring. Like many of the planetary rings, the upper level on Mars 1 was effectively an open eco-space. The landscape was filled with rivers and lakes and grass and trees. Hovering above them, almost as though it was suspended between the arching arms of the ring, was the planet of Mars.
Spread out across the terrain were various buildings, mostly museums and cultural centers. While the crush of humanity was mostly in the lower levels, this upper area was designed with aesthetics as the primary consideration. No other artificial habitat in the Sol system had even half as much parkland as Mars 1. Off in the distance was the low hill that housed most of the higher SolGov courts on Mars. It was a towering edifice of white marble that gleamed brilliantly in the reflected sunlight.
“That just looks effing cool,” Perez said. “Gotta record this on full sensory.”
“Stay frosty, people,” Williams said. “You can gawk on your own time.”
“Besides, even you can’t jerk off to a sens recording of a planet.” Cassar grinned at Perez.
“Like Staff said. We don’t have any more marked positions that we’re expecting to be ambushed at. But that doesn’t mean we’re in the clear.” Tanis gestured for Jansen to take the lead.
They trotted along in silence, the way before them virtually clear of locals for a time, but as they neared the federal buildings they moved into more populated areas until they were just a small island in a sea of foot traffic. The judiciary loomed ahead of them and minutes later they were moving up the steps toward the main lobby.
They passed through security and the guards didn’t look too happy to be allowing armed Marines into the courthouse. At the entrance to the courtroom Tanis signaled the Marines to wait outside and handed Williams her pulse rifle.
Tanis checked the time and smiled. “We’re actually going to be right on time.”
“Well, we did plan for some interruptions,” Joe said. “You pretty much nailed how long they’d be.”
“To be honest, I expected them to be longer,” Tanis replied. “That was really too easy. I can’t believe Trent didn’t put in an appearance. I don’t think he’ll attack after the testimonies have been entered; what would be the point in that?”
She nodded to Trist and they turned and entered the court.
“What would be the point indeed,” said a voice from the judge’s seat, which was facing away from them. Tanis and Trist approached as the chair turned. Sitting in it was Trent, a rather unflattering smile on his face.
“It’s good to see you again Tanis, Trist. I really am sorry that it will be the last time.”
With those words, the doors slammed shut behind them and heavily armored troops spilled out of the judge’s antechamber while more lined the balconies above them.
“It would seem that I finally have you where I want you, you meddling bitch,” Trent spat, “now pass over your sidearm and we’ll get started.”
CHAPTER 24
STELLAR DATE: 3227284 / 11.27.4123 (Adjusted Gregorian)
LOCATION: Mars 1 Ring (MIR)
REGION: Mars Protectorate, Sol Space Federation
Tanis took a long moment to consider the odds. At least twenty-five men surrounded her and Trist—ten on the balconies and fifteen down on the floor below. Angela and Sue were desperately trying to get control of the door’s mechanism and release it, but it seemed to be in some sort of lockdown. Small sparks in the air hinted at a full battle of nanoprobes occurring all around them.
Tanis grunted and tossed her weapon onto the ground a few paces away. Trent signaled one of his men and to pick it up, removing any chance of a dash and grab.
“I have to admit,”—Trent clasped his hands with what appeared to be genuine glee—“I really didn’t expect you to be quite this easy to catch.”
“Not sure how seventh time’s the charm is easy,” Tanis replied. “From where I stand you have a pretty poor batting average.”
“Yet in the end, I still win.” Trent’s voice turned dark and menacing. “You have no idea what it has cost me, personally and professionally, to bring you to heel. With you out of the way we’ll finally be able to stop the Intrepid.”
“Why?” Trist asked. “Is she the only decent Micky in the TSF? No one else can tell guards to guard and politicians to fuck off? I thought skill like that was something the military had in spades.”
“They may.” Trent’s smile looked sour. “But they don’t seem to be assigning them to take care of the Intrepid. It really will be nice to be done with this job; it’s taken years off my life.”
“I have to ask,” Tanis said. “You’re pretty implicated here. What’s your endgame?”
“We’ve got an exit plan. We may not all make it, but the pay is high enough to make up for the risk.”
Several of the armed and armored figures chuckled. “Way more than enough,” one said.
Sue replied after a moment’s pause.
The exchange only took seconds, but it gave Tanis an idea which made a hope of this not being her last day begin to glimmer.
“Nothing to say, Major Richards?” Trent asked. “No recital of how I’ll never get away, how I should surr
ender?”
“Well of course you’re not going to get away,” Tanis replied. “I’ve never failed to take down a target yet. Don’t see why I should start with you.” She nonchalantly took her gloves off as she spoke, hoping that the casual behavior would be ignored.
“Don’t you think that’s a bit optimistic?” Trent asked. “Even if we don’t get out of here, you’re going to die. That’s a given.”
Tanis looked around her at the armored soldiers. Laying eyes on each one so that the beam would be calibrated, while half-focused on the countdown Angela placed on her HUD.
“You gonna have your goons do it, or are you going to do it yourself?”
Trent stood and walked around the bench, facing Tanis and Trist directly. “Don’t worry, I’m not afraid to kill you myself.” He pulled a pistol from his belt and aimed it at Tanis.
“Well that’s good,” she said with a grin, “because you’re going to have to.”
She timed her statement with the proton beams and smiled as each mercenary seemed to jerk slightly and freeze. Muffled grunts and curses could be heard as they tried to move their powered armor, but each limb was locked solid.
“Glad that actually worked,” Trist said.
“Me too, would have taken a lot more than silbio to glue us back together if it hadn’t.”
“What the…what did you do?” Trent asked, gesturing with his weapon.
“I fried the neural net their armor uses.”
“How is that possible? The RVI is supposed to be unhackable!”
“Advice to live by.” Trist glanced at Tanis. “Maybe he’s been having so much trouble taking you out because he can’t deal with reality that well.” She looked back at Trent. “Not only is it possible, it just happened.”
Tanis smiled evilly. “STR fixed all the reported issues. Since TSF doesn’t use that model, we didn’t feel the urge to report any weaknesses we found, especially since we usually encounter STR armor on the other side of a conflict.”
Trent barked a curse, and without any other fanfare fired his weapon. Tanis’s augmented vision flashed a warning the moment his hand tensed. She dove to the side, but not before a second alert fed into her mind that the pistol had fired a load of self-propelled ballistic projectiles. The alert came with a rather useless note about a velocity of 4000 meters per second.
Later she remembered the whole event in a surreal out-of-body fashion, the warning, the dive, and then the knowledge that her right arm and the side of her torso were gone.
A combination of genetic alteration, training, and Angela shutting down all of her pain centers was the only thing that kept her from losing the rest of her torso as his next shot rang out. She lunged behind a plas display that took most of the blast; though it did fling some shrapnel into her, some making it through her armor and into her flesh.
While Trent was occupied with attacking Tanis, Trist took the opportunity to run toward the soldier that had taken Tanis’s sidearm. It was lying on a banister and she was only a meter from it when Trent spun and fired a shot into her as well.
The blast struck Trist in center mass and knocked her over the railing. Her body shook and convulsed while Trent turned his attention back to Tanis.
“Looks like this is the end for you.” He strode over to her, gun aimed directly at her head. “You were a worthy adversary.”
“Wish I could say the same for you,” Trist said from behind him.
Trent turned to see Trist propped up on the banister, gun in her hand.
“I…you…you’re dead,” Trent gaped.
“Again with the reality issues.” She fired three shots, all hitting Trent’s torso. He was wearing thin armor under his suit. It blocked the first and second shot, but the third shattered it and dropped him at Tanis’s feet.
“Needed him…have questions…” Tanis gasped.
“Oh relax, he’ll live.” Trist walked over, wincing.
Her shirt was torn, and under it the green phosphor-like glow of silbio stood out. “I guess I am a bit of the gummi girl now. Helps to not have any specific internal organs to get blown up when you get blown up.”
Tanis’s laugh became coughs and spasms.
CHAPTER 25
STELLAR DATE: 3227284 /11.27.4123 (Adjusted Gregorian)
LOCATION: Mars 1 Ring (MIR)
REGION: Mars Protectorate, Sol Space Federation
Joe leaned over the transport cocoon the ring medics had settled Tanis in. Even in her current state she couldn’t help but notice the concern and moisture in his eyes.
“That was the worst ten minutes of my life,” Joe said. “I nearly died when I heard the shots.”
A look of anger flashed across Joe’s face. “I can’t believe that Trent is all you want to talk about right now. Look at you! You’re in pieces, and all you can talk about is your job.”
Grenwald stood across the transport cocoon and cast Joe an unreadable look before putting his hand on the commander’s shoulder.
“We’re all pretty concerned about you, Major. But don’t worry, we’ll do our jobs.” He nodded to the two of them and walked away to oversee Trent’s preparation for transport.
Tanis wanted to sigh, but it hurt too much. The pain in Joe’s eyes hurt too, she knew because she felt the same thing. What was the point of getting the Intrepid outsystem if she killed herself doing it?
“It seems that pretty much everything is easier than feeling for you.” He turned away as the medics began moving her cocoon into the ambulance.
CHAPTER 26
STELLAR DATE: 3227294 / 12.03.4123 (Adjusted Gregorian)
LOCATION: GSS Intrepid, Mars Outer Shipyards (MOS)
REGION: Mars Protectorate, Sol Space Federation
“Glad to have you back with us.” Commander Ouri smiled as Tanis entered the SOC. “You’re looking good.”
To the casual observer, she was at one hundred percent, in full control of her faculties. In reality, her new skin itched and her reflexes didn’t feel quite right in her fingers. Firing right-handed was definitely out of the question.
Tanis signaled Ouri to walk with her. “I’m feeling good. I’ve gone over the interviews with Mr. Trent and I see that we’ve not yet gotten anything useful out of him.”
“No, ma’am. He’s only been here on the ship for a few days—took forever to get him transferred up from the ring.”
They arrived at the conference room and Tanis took a seat.
“I know, I followed the progress; it was like pulling teeth.”
“Or new nerve clusters. What are you doing here?” Joe asked as he walked into the offices.
“Getting back to work; specifically, getting ready to have a chat with Mr. Trent.”
Joe’s expression spoke volumes. Ouri took one look at the two and excused herself.
Neither spoke for several minutes. Tanis looked down at the table, tracing the scratches in the surface with her eyes. Surprising both of them, she spoke first.
“I was scared. More scared than I’ve been in a long time.” She looked up at him, trying not to let too much emotion show on her face; mostly failing.
Joe sat down one chair away from her. She knew he was hurt, moreover he was scared. Probably scared he’d fallen in love with a crazy woman who would get herself killed any day now.
“Found out you’re not indestructible, did you?”
Tanis waved that aside. “I’ve been hurt before. Worse, actually.”
“You weren’t scared then?”
“Why would I have been? The military patched me up and sent me back to work. It’s what I do…what
I did.”
“I don’t get you.” Joe sighed and leaned back in his chair.
Tanis waited for the standard dry comment from Angela, but it didn’t come. Her AI had been strangely silent when she and Joe were together during the last month.
Joe mistook her moment of contemplation for intractability and snorted. “It’s like talking to a brick wall.” He began to rise out of his chair.
“Wait.” Tanis reached out and put a hand on his arm. “Please, I’m trying. I’m just not that good at this. I haven’t felt like this about anyone in a very, very long time. You must know that.”
“I’ve never looked at the personal parts of your file.” The anger had subsided and kindness returned to Joe’s eyes. “I only know the tiny nuggets of your past that you’ve shared.”
“Well, I’ve never had a serious relationship with a man.”
“What. Never?”
“Well, a fling or two in college, but nothing after that.”
“You’re seventy-two years old. Don’t tell me you’re a—”
“No.” Tanis chuckled softly. “I’m not a virgin.” Her eyes locked with his, a sliver of her contrary nature showing. “Why would you want someone like me? I mean you, you’re a hot vacuum jockey. You’ve had your pick, I know I’m no prize.”
Her hand was still on his arm. He looked down at it and placed his hand over hers. “You don’t get it, Major, you are the prize.”
She looked hard and long into his eyes. No trace of deception or malice showed. Not being able to help it she examined his skin texture, monitored his heart rate and looked for other signs of dishonesty. There were none.
“I still don’t get it.”
Joe gave his warm, resonant chuckle. The one she had first found so pleasant that day after the Dawn—still did. “It’s not something I can really just tell you. It sort of needs a nice long period of explanation.”
Tanis didn’t know how to do this. The emotions and reactions were unfamiliar to her. She had focused only on her duty for so long. Men were just teammates without breasts.