by Peter Telep
"I'm on the Arkansas, twenty-fifth squadron, the Green Knights."
"What are you doing here?" Nathan asked.
"Wait a minute," Shane interrupted. "You're aboard the Arkansas. We're second team running a classified Op on Bulldog's Belly. First team was the twenty-first from your ship."
"No kidding?" Stone said. "I heard that was a bad Op."
"What do you mean?" Wang asked.
"Guy from my wing intercepted a communication from the planet during a recon. Supposedly was the last transmission from the twenty-first. It's just scuttlebutt, but they're saying that the entire squadron abandoned their mission. There was either a mutiny or something else."
Nathan stopped eating. "A mutiny? Doubt it. And who'd wanna go AWOL on a giant ice cube?"
Cooper scratched at the stubble on his cheek. "Maybe they defected."
"I don't think the Chigs are particularly friendly to deserters," Stone said. "How does one explain to an armored suit full of spooge that one's philosophy has changed?"
"I don't know about you," Wang said. "But I just assumed the twenty-first bought it on planet, or if they are alive, we'd join them and complete the Op together. I mean, it's not crazy to assume they're friendlies. They're Marines."
"How well do you know those people?" Nathan asked Stone.
"Couple of them were new transfers. Captain of the squadron's an A.I. vet, a semper psycho who got passed over for promotion a couple of times. Really pissed him off. Took it out on his people in classic fashion."
"What about the rest?" Nathan continued.
"Know one pilot, Japanese woman, Kyoko Iwata. She's the squad's ace. Quiet. Polite. Turned me down three times for drinks."
Shane narrowed her gaze, contemplating something. "Anyone get their hands on that pilot's ODP?"
Stone snickered. "Yeah, the boys and girls from the Judge Advocate General's office." He eyed Nathan. "Did they assign an investigating attorney to your team?" Nathan looked at the others and shook his head.
"They assigned a demolitions expert from Aerotech. A silicate."
"Maybe that's his angle," Damphousse said. "He's working undercover for the JAG."
"That's a strong possibility," Stone said. "Most attorneys got artificial intelligence."
A collective moan resounded, then Cooper said, "Until we know for sure, we shouldn't accuse Teddy of anything."
Nathan gave Cooper a hard look.
"What?" Cooper mouthed, feigning innocence.
"So Charlie, you haven't told us what you're doing here," Damphousse said.
"I'm going on a solo, long-range recon, and my oh-so-caring superiors wanna make sure I don't lose my mind along the way. They're calling this psyche training. Buncha nonsense. I'll take along a couple of good books if I get bored. I am gonna lose my mind if they make me continue this."
Cooper frowned slightly. "A solo L double R. That's weird. What are you flying, a Hammer?"
"A modified Condor. What she lacks in weapons she makes up for in speed."
"Recon rocket," Wang said.
Stone winked, then turned his attention back to Cooper. "You know, I almost forgot to ask. I saw you guys at the bar last night. I was just coming in, and a couple of MPs were taking you out. Tried to get your attention, but you didn't see me. What happened?" Nathan exchanged looks with Wang and Cooper. What Nathan felt was reflected in their eyes.
"Big misunderstanding," Cooper said. "Wang here and I were getting into a little Marine Corps bonding, and those boys thought we were havin' a drunken brawl."
"Oh, I see," Stone said, his tone conveying that he didn't buy a word of Cooper's story. He turned to Wang. "You looked pretty mad, Paul."
"Yeah, right because those stupid MPs locked us up for nothing." Wang looked wide-eyed at Stone.
But the big pilot, not receiving Wang's communique, said, "I heard the captain herself caught you guys. She give you that welcome speech about how much she hates Marines?"
Wang looked at Nathan, pleading. Nathan stared helplessly back.
"Yeah, she gave us the speech," Wang answered.
"So what really happened?" Stone asked.
Shane lowered her glass of orange juice and matter-of-factly said, "Hawkes and Wang got into an argument, broke glasses, started wailing on each other, and were interrupted by the captain, who threw them in the brig for the night. She not only called the Saratoga and woke Commodore Ross out of a sound sleep, but she also called me and did the same. She accused me of being a bad baby-sitter of the little boys in my charge. I told her that sometimes boys will be boys but that in the morning I would address the problem."
Stone looked at Nathan. "Guess I put my foot in a major pile of Chig dung. Sorry."
"Why didn't you tell us you knew?" Nathan asked Shane.
"Why didn't you tell me the truth when I asked?" she countered.
"'Cause we know how you've been," Cooper said. "Every day's like a bad day for you."
"So you could've told me. My day was already ruined, right?"
"Uh, yeah." Cooper continued to stammer.
Wang bolted to his feet. "I'm sick of this. Look. We got into a fight. We got into trouble. It's over. Sorry. You wanna punish us? Mentally? Physically? Go ahead." He stormed away.
"Whoah. I don't remember Paul being that sensitive," Stone observed.
Nathan shook his head. "Long story."
"What were you fighting about?" Shane asked Cooper.
"Before you answer that, Coop, remember who you're talkin' to," Nathan advised quickly.
Shane made a crooked grin. "I don't work for the JAG, Nathan."
Cooper stared at his plate. "I was telling Wang that you and him hate Teddy 'cause he's an A.I., but you don't even know him." He looked up at her. "It's the same kinda crap I've had to deal with since being born."
"Here we are, light-years from Earth," Stone said. "And we're talking about the same stuff that tore apart a nation some two hundred years ago."
"If Cooper keeps running with this feeling, it's gonna tear apart our squadron," Nathan said.
"I'm not the one with the problem," Cooper said darkly.
Shane leaned back in her chair. "Look, Hawkes, I'll put it to you like this. I don't hate the silicate. I just don't trust him."
"Because he's a silicate," Cooper fired back.
"I'm not going to lie and say that's not part of it, but you're right. I don't know him and because I don't, there's no way to even sense if he has a private agenda. We gotta work together to find out if he does. Do we agree on that?"
Cooper considered for a few seconds, then softly said, "Yeah."
Then Nathan, along with everyone at the table, sensed it was time to leave. He took his final bite of pancake, remembering a gone but not forgotten colonel who was fond of them, then moved around the table to Charlie Stone.
"Good luck on your recon."
Charlie took his hand and shook it firmly. "God bless you, Nathan. You're one of the best."
Showered, shaven, and feeling like the proverbial new man, Nathan told Wang to wait in the corridor. The rest of the squadron went to an orientation room.
"Are you a professional?" Nathan asked.
"What?"
"You heard me."
"But where does that come from? You know I am."
"Hard to tell."
Wang pushed himself away from the wall he had been leaning on, spun away from Nathan, then spun back. "Were you watching last night? First punch was not mine."
"This ain't about blame. You're having a hard time dealing with this, and the silicate isn't even here. What's gonna happen on planet?"
"It's not the silicate. It's Hawkes's morality crusade. Hating a machine is not an act of prejudice."
"Well, Cooper believes it is. Can you respect that?"
Wang closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I don't know. How would you feel if you were me?"
"There would be some resentment, but you said you had your priorities straight. That still true?"
"I'm sorry. I asked you a stupid question because you'll never know what it was like to be tortured. How it felt. What he made me say. The guilt that's rotting inside. I thought I got past it, but now I know there's always going to be something to bring it back."
Nathan pursed his lips and stared somberly at the lieutenant. "Maybe you're going to carry it forever, but maybe that's okay. Maybe that's what you gotta do."
"You giving me advice or a warning?"
"I don't know what I'm doing. I just thought I could help." Nathan began walking away.
Wang called back to him. "They broke my spirit."
"No they didn't."
"In its modern form, mountain climbing, or the correct term I prefer, alpinism, dates back to about 1850, when British sportsmen began their valiant treks up the Alps. By the end of the nineteenth century, American climbers achieved fame for their journeys in the Andes and Alaskan Rockies. The most notable of the early ascents were in the Alps and included Mont Blanc, which rises nearly sixteen thousand feet above sea level. Now if you'll excuse me a moment, I'm going to load up a disc that I want you to examine."
"This guy gonna give a history lesson or hands-on training?" Cooper muttered to Nathan.
"I'm wonderin' when we're going to get a Marine Corps instructor," Nathan replied. "Then again, these civilians probably know more than a lot of the people who taught us back at Loxley. The only instructor I trusted there was Sergeant Bougus."
"Shane said they told her this guy climbed Everest," Cooper said. "So he's got experience, but I feel like he's a monitor and we're five brain wipes being re-educated."
"They keep giving us these, quote, experts. I wonder who's going to teach us Chig fighter piloting?"
"Maybe they got us a Chig," Cooper said.
"You never know. I heard the Spooky Unit's made real progress deciphering their language."
"Never happen."
"Bet on it?" Nathan asked.
Cooper grinned. "You're on."
four
Shane felt the usual jerk as the troop compartment of the ISSTV snapped into place. She drove herself deeper into the jumpseat and listened to the roar of the thrusters as the vehicle lifted off the Haldeman's starboard pad.
"Won't miss this ship," Damphousse said, staring out a porthole.
"Yeah, it sucked in ways I didn't think were possible," Cooper said.
"But Vanessa, there's somebody back there you'll miss, huh?" Nathan asked, then shifted his eyebrows up and down to tease her.
Damphousse rolled her eyes and shifted in her seat. "I expected this. He just bought me a drink."
"And then?" Cooper asked.
"We talked."
"And then?"
"That's it."
Cooper looked puzzled. "You didn't kiss?"
"All right, Hawkes, you've crossed the line," Shane said. "We didn't ask you about your last R&R, and believe me, we heard stuff."
"Read you loud and clear, Captain," Cooper said, turning quickly away from her.
"It's okay, Shane. I'll tell you, 'cause nothing really happened. Yes, we kissed. But he's got that recon, and he serves aboard another ship. It's logistically impossible."
Damphousse's tone grew serious. "I've already been Dear Janed once. I'm not climbing into that cockpit again."
"Speaking of cockpits and Chig fighters and Marine Corps instructors," Cooper began, doing his typical lousy job of changing the subject. "Nathan, you still owe me."
"I'll give it to you when we get back," Nathan said, sounding slightly disgusted.
Shane looked her question at Cooper, who explained, "West bet me that we'd have an actual Chig instructing us on how to fly their fighters."
Flashing Nathan a look of disbelief, she said, "Why'd you play those odds?"
"Well they kept dishing out experts. And wouldn't it have been really cool to have been trained by a Chig? You know, a Chiggie defector. A nice Chiggie."
"That colonel who walked us through it did smell like one," Cooper said.
"Oh, I know," Damphousse agreed. "At first, I thought it was just me. Not the smell, but my highly sensitive nose or something. But then I got a solid whiff of him."
"Uh, excuse me, but do we need to talk about this?" Shane asked. "I wanna know why no one's thanked me?"
"For what?" Wang asked.
"You, mister, ought to know more than anyone."
Wang bit his lower lip, squinted, then looked at Nathan.
Shane closed her eyes. "Do I really have to tell you?"
"Thank you, Captain," Cooper said.
"Yes, thank you, sir," Nathan added.
"Thanks," Wang finished.
She opened her eyes and studied them. "You're welcome." Then she turned to Damphousse. "Think they know what they're thanking me for?"
Damphousse grinned and shook her head. "I read a report in the American Medical Association's journal stating that human males have the weakest memories of all mammals. There were all these graphs and charts, but all you have to do is draw from experience. Guys can't remember anniversaries, birthdays, and even most holidays. Married men get their wedding date engraved on their rings, and they still forget."
"You're full of spooge," Wang said. "There's no such report."
"There should be, because you've just proven my point."
Cooper's mouth fell open. "We haven't proven jack. We're thanking the captain for overlooking our little scuffle in the bar."
"I'm impressed," Damphousse said. "But are you the only one who remembered, Coop?" She leveled her gaze on Wang.
"All right, so I forgot," he confessed. "We've been busy." He gazed over at Shane. "Thanks. Really."
"From here on out, that's all the slack you're getting." Shane thumbed on the comlink. "Khalitov, what's our ETA?"
The pilot up in the cockpit responded, "We're fifty MSKs out. Computing ROA. Twenty-two-point-four mikes."
Once she and the rest of the squadron had settled back aboard the Saratoga, Shane contacted Colonel McQueen and asked to meet with him and Commodore Ross in private.
Within two hours she sat in a small, dimly lit debriefing room with the two men. They were off duty, scowling, and in need of sleep.
"What is it, Captain?" McQueen asked.
The commodore lifted an index finger and aimed it at Shane. "Before you answer that, if you're here to complain, I can get back to my guitar now."
"Understood, sir," Shane said. "That is not my intention."
"Speak," Ross said curtly.
"While aboard the Haldeman we heard scuttlebutt that the twenty-first squadron may have deliberately abandoned their mission."
McQueen reacted, but the commodore remained stoic.
"We also learned that there might be an investigation by the Judge Advocate General's office," she added.
The commodore rubbed his chin in thought. "Scuttlebutt is just that, Captain."
"Yes, sir. But it does leave one wondering."
Ross glanced at McQueen, then returned his gaze to Shane. "No one has contacted me regarding a JAG investigation, Captain."
"But we have been assigned an additional squad member," Shane pointed out.
"As far as I'm concerned, Mister LR 404 is who he says he is. His orders are authentic. He's not working for the JAG."
Shane placed her hands on the table and leaned toward the commodore. "Do we really need a demolitions expert? Why couldn't we have been trained to blow the aqueduct ourselves?"
McQueen hemmed. "Captain. I already posed that question to the commodore, who posed it directly to Lieutenant General Osborne. At this point, ours is no longer to question why."
"With all due respect, sir, I can't help but question. And personal feelings aside, I don't trust Mister 404. I'll be watching him."
"As you should," the commodore said.
Shane wondered if Ross was holding back something, either willfully or under orders. She wished she could pose the question to him, but to ask would be to accuse and insult.
Another question came to her. "Sir. If we encounter the twenty-first on planet and they have, in fact, abandoned the mission, what are your orders?"
"You will place them under arrest."
"Sir. I don't mean to sound callous, but dragging along prisoners may jeopardize the mission."
"Understood," Ross said. "It'll be your call."
Shane breathed an uneasy sigh. "Yes, sir."
"Are we done here, Captain?"
"Almost." She addressed McQueen. "It hasn't come up, and no one's pressed the issue, but why aren't you commanding this mission, sir?"
Ross answered for McQueen. "The colonel has been ordered to Jewelgo. They need more help establishing the firebase there. Believe me, Captain. Colonel McQueen exhausted every angle of protest, but one time or another we all must do a little time in the rear."
"Yes, sir."
"Tell your people wheels up in fifty mikes. The MFH bomber has already docked in hangar bay six."
She rose. "Aye-aye, sir."
"I'll meet you down there," McQueen told her.
Shane left the room, wondering just how much of the truth still lay back there.
When she arrived back in the bunk room, she discovered that the others had already been informed of the departure time and were changing into their white flight suits.
"What did they say?" Nathan asked.
"They know as much as us. I think."
"What's that mean?"
"It means we'll find out." She headed for her locker. "Remember people. You can go with a rebreather pack or the simple mask and LW unit. I suggest the rebreather. It's less comfortable but safer."
"No way I'm wearing an RB," Nathan said. "I gotta feel the wind on me. It's just a thing of mine."
"Up to you," Shane said, then opened her locker.
But before she removed a flight suit, she noticed that the chatter in the room between Damphousse and Wang suddenly fell off to nothing. She looked at them, and they stared in the direction of the hatch. Shane moved away from the lockers and saw that the A.I. stood in the doorway. He wore a black jumpsuit with the Aerotech logo embroidered on the breast. Nathan closed the hatch behind him.
"Thought I'd check in. How was your training?" the silicate asked, his crosshaired eyes panning around the room. "Guess you talked about me, huh?"