Grendel Unit

by Bernard Schaffer

  S'bal wriggled out of his clothing to let the hypersaline massage his body. He fell to the bottom of the tank and stretched out, lying flat, relaxing as his gills sent up tiny air bubbles.

  Frank looked down at S'bal's stump and frowned, "What's happening?"

  Monster turned on the pads of his feet and said, "Maybe if we throw his arm in the tank it will reattach or something."

  "Don't bother," Frank said. He waved Monster over to see the small stump on S'bal's torso as it twitched with new life. A dozen small spindles of nerves extended from the stump, growing longer and longer until they were nearly the length of a new arm. Frank smacked the side of the tank to get S'bal's attention and said, "Hey, jerkwad! You could have told us your limbs regenerated."

  S'bal looked up at Frank and held up his hands innocently. His expression changed at the look of anger on Monster's face as the creature turned his back to them for a moment, only to reappear against the side of the tank holding something up for the Cryndian to see. Monster tapped his sharp claw against the glass and said, "You watching?"

  Vic headed down the narrow corridor to his quarters. The Samsara was a Moksha-class ship, designed to hold a crew no bigger than four. Four humans, he thought. Not mantipors. Accoutrements and comforts were sacrificed for the important things they needed. Weapons, gear, medicine. The ship was small and sleek, its thrusters powerful enough to get them the hell out of dodge if the moment called for it.

  The moment often did, he thought.

  The ship had guns, of course, but nothing big enough to punch through the hull of a cruiser. Their entire strategy in dealing with larger ships was built on zipping around them like a fly attacking the eyes of a gnat, taking out a few of the enemy's key targeting instruments, and making a run for it.

  Vic called it the Sissypants Maneuver. Shove the bullies in the back when they aren't looking and flee for dear life.

  They weren't the flagship of any Navy, that was for sure. Moksha-class ships were often used to deliver quick supplies to embedded soldiers, to dodge enough enemy fire to drop off a few crates of ammo and explosives, and haul off the injured. Smugglers tended to prefer them also. Their crew had borrowed more than a few modifications from the many smuggling vessels they'd encountered. Borrowed being a polite way of saying appropriated. Bad guys were tremendously willing to part with a stealth shield in lieu of having their shipments seized.

  By the book? No, he thought. But then, that's not how things get done. That's why Unification has her uniformed divisions and puffed-up commanders to put on a nice big show for the rest of the universe. Meanwhile, he and his crew were running Capture/Kill Ops in all the dark little corners of the galaxy and vanishing without a trace.

  The message display on his monitor was blinking. He sat down at his desk and touched the screen, waiting for the image of General Milner to materialize. "Hi, boss," he said. "I'm glad you called. How've you been?"

  Milner's face was red and stiff on the screen, his jowls squeezed down by his chin until it looked like they might pop. "Save it, Captain. Did you extract a prisoner from lawful custody on Khor-Wa?"

  Vic paused, weighing his words carefully. Finally, he decided the best answer was the simplest. "Yes."

  "On whose authority did you do that?"

  Damn, another trick question. He scratched his chin, "On my own, sir. The locals had one of our assets in jail and I needed him."

  "No, what you needed was to go through official channels to clear it with me before you committed an act of sedition against a sovereign government. I have to talk to the High Khor-Wa Prime Minister in fifteen minutes!"

  Vic held up his hands, "Listen, Yultorot is on Khor-Wa right now. We are this close to him. I'll have him in a body bag by tomorrow morning. I'm sure the Prime Minister will be a lot happier once he gets to make a big speech saying how they've rid the galaxy of one of its most dangerous criminals."

  "That's a nice thought, but it's not going to happen," Milner said. "From now on, you and your crew are to remain in uniform when conducting Unification business. Is that understood?"

  Vic stared back at him, "How can we run covert ops in uniform? That doesn't make any sense."

  The General's eyes flared, "You forget that I ran Grendel long before you were a hopeful gleam in your father's pants, boy. Do not think to instruct me on how to conduct its affairs." The older man adjusted his uniform and cleared his throat, collecting himself to say, "You have an asset. Send him to secure Yultorot and then you and the locals can make an official arrest together."

  Vic felt his hands start to shake with anger. "The order was to neutralize Yultorot, General."

  "The kill order is hereby rescinded. Milner out."

  The screen went blank and Vic slumped back in his chair, kicking the desk from underneath hard enough to send the stacks of paper spread across it flying. He caught something in the corner of his eye and whipped around to see Frank Kelly leaning in the doorway. "How's the patient?"

  "He's a conniving S.O.B. As soon as we dunked him in the hypersaline tank he started to regenerate a new arm. He was just whining like that to make us feel bad."

  Vic chuckled, "Still, it was pretty gnarly when Monster yanked that thing off."

  "I almost puked." Frank looked back into the hallway, checking to make sure no one was coming. "You know S'bal's got as much chance of taking down Yultorot as my grandmother does, right?"

  "Are you suggesting I violate a direct order from a commanding officer, Lieutenant Kelly?"

  Frank smiled at him and said, "No, I'm suggesting that we go with the General's plan all the way. But maybe we skip a few steps."

  "Like?"

  "Like telling the locals, staying on the sidelines, and wearing our uniforms."

  Vic folded his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair far enough to look up at the ceiling. "This is how it's going to play. You were in Trauma with the patient the whole time and this conversation never happened."

  "There's one more thing," Frank said.

  "What is it?"

  "When we realized S'bal was growing a new arm, Monster kind of got pissed off."

  "I bet. What did he rip off now?"

  Frank winced, "He might have accidentally eaten the severed arm. In front of S'bal. And then he sat there picking his fangs with the bones and telling him how delicious it was."

  Vic opened his mouth to speak several times but couldn't get any words out. Finally he waved Frank away and said, "You deal with it. I can't process all that right now."

  "He's eating pieces of our prisoners, Captain. That's taking the good secret agent, bad scary monster act a little bit far, don't you think?"

  "How did S'bal take it?"

  "Uh, he was pretty freaked out. Rightfully so, I might add."

  Vic shrugged, "Maybe it's good to keep him on his fins for a little while. This is all his fault anyway. I'm starting to hate that fish, Frank. I really, really am."

  "Don't you hate all of our assets?"

  "I do, but this one is different. Special. You know, this might be the hate I've been looking for my whole life, Frank."

  "The hate of a lifetime? That's nice. I'm happy for you and kind of sad for me at the same time."

  "It will happen, buddy. Just give it time."

  2. Ops Plan

  Vic pressed the intercom's button and said, "All crew to my quarters."

  Within minutes, the corridor filled with the sound of boots scraping rubber mats as they shuffled toward him. Monster lowered his head and ducked inside Vic's room, wedging himself in the far end of the cabin to let the others in.

  Bob Buehl stopped abruptly at the door to let S'bal slide inside. His skin was slick with a fresh layer of healthy-looking slime. Sipping a cup full of hypersaline through a red straw, he nodded at the captain and said, "What's up?"

  Frank came up behind the Cryndian and said, "Sit down and shut up."

  Vic held up his hand to stop them, "I asked for the crew."

  Frank loo
ked at him, "Yeah, but I thought you wanted to go over the plan."

  "Monster, what's the first rule of Grendel Unit?"

  Monster's low, rumbling voice replied, "Never educate the assets."

  "That's right," Vic said. "So if I do want to go over the plan, that means I don't want to go over it with S'bal here." He looked at S'bal, "No offense."

  "Why can't I be here?" S'bal whined. "It's my tail on the line down there. I should have some say in the matter."

  Vic snapped his fingers and said, "Monster, tear off his arms."

  "Yes, Captain."

  S'bal shot to his feet and said, "That's not funny. That really hurt, you maniac."

  "And it's really going to hurt again, especially now that I know the damage isn't permanent. So shut your neck and get the hell out of my office."

  "Where do you want him?" Buehl said. "I can't put him up front or he might screw with the flight controls. Where will he be safe?"

  "Stick him in the storage closet," Vic said.

  They listened to S'bal's multiple mouths issue a stream of complaints as Buehl dragged him down the hall that grew muted the moment the storage closet door shut, trapping the Cryndian inside. "You're too soft on assets, Frank," Vic said. "They don't respect you unless you make them fear you. That's all they understand. Otherwise, they will run game on you just like they do everybody else. They are slicksters and hustlers who get by in this world preying on the weak. Treat them with any kind of kindness, and they will start searching for ways to take advantage."

  "You mean I should start eating them?" Frank said with a sideways glance at Monster.

  Monster patted his stomach and said, "Mmmmm. Good."

  Frank held up his hands, "I just have a different approach. I'm the nice guy."

  "And we all saw how well that worked out with S'bal the first time, didn't we," Vic said. He suddenly clapped his hands together and said, "Let's do some business. Buehl, what's the situation report for Khor-Wa?"

  Buehl lifted his tablet and swept his hand across it until a series of images appeared. "Status, normal. Nothing went out on any of the enforcement channels about us. I guess the Sergeant decided to keep it to himself. Other than that, I've got their whole camera network searching for Yultorot. Nothing so far."

  "Unless he's wearing a disguise," Monster muttered. "Your technology is only good for so many things. I prefer to be at ground level."

  "Right, because you're so inconspicuous," Buehl said.

  Frank clapped his hands to get their attention, "Ladies, ladies. If you're going to fight, at least have the decency to strip down and oil up first."

  Vic pointed at Monster, "What's the latest intel on Yultorot?"

  "He's been laying low since Cinth-Combs."

  "I'd lay low too if I blew up a school full of kids," Frank said.

  "Are we sure nobody else caught up to him?" Vic said. "The Cinth-Combs families put up a big enough bounty to drag every moron with a gun out of bed. I don't want to risk going down there if our target is rotting in some basement somewhere."

  Monster's lips curled back into a snarl, showing his large yellow fangs, "If the families of the murdered children had Yultorot, we'd know it. They'd crucify him in the rubble of the school and let the insects eat him. He's still free, captain. I'm sure of it."

  "All right, Big Man," Vic said. "That's good enough for me." His eyes turned on Frank, "And you. Mister Nice Guy. Mister Let's Give Fish a Chance. Mister I'll Keep an Eye on Him. How'd that work out, Frank?"

  Frank rolled his eyes, "It didn't. Can we move forward instead of living in the past now?"

  "What is your assessment of S'bal's ability to lure Yultorot into the open?"

  "I think he can do it," Frank said. "But I think he needs people close to him to make sure he doesn't do anything squirrelly. Fishy. Whatever."

  Their eyes met as Vic considered his next words carefully. Finally he said, "Then these are my instructions. Buehl, you and Monster will remain on board to coordinate surveillance. You are not to reenter Khor-Wa until I call for extraction."

  "What?" Buehl said sharply.

  "Captain, that's not how our ops work," Monster said.

  "It is today. Frank and I will go down with the fish and try to get eyes on Yultorot. He can handle S'bal, I'll complete the mission."

  "This is bull," Buehl said. "I can get better scans from the ground. I'll be able to trap any emergency signals and keep the locals in the dark. I can't do any of that sitting up here."

  "While you're watching for Yultorot and Frank's watching S'bal, I'm the person watching both of your backs, Captain. That's how these ops go. That's how they get done correctly," Monster said.

  Vic nodded silently. Of course his men were right. A first year operative could see that. "Gentlemen, your objections are duly noted. My instructions stand. Dismissed." He watched them get up and file out, but called out to Frank, "Give me a minute, Frank."

  Frank stepped back to let the door close in front of him and said, "It was nice of you to keep those other two out of trouble for when the General finds out."

  "Shame they don't know that."

  "Apparently you don't mind dragging me down though."

  "I always said if there was one guy I could easily spend the rest of my life with behind bars, it would be anyone but you, Frank."

  "Then why would you pick me to go with you?"

  "As motivation not to get caught."

  "Your words hurt, you know that?" Frank said with a grin.

  Vic leaned forward in his chair and folded his hands together, "Listen. Your only job down there is to watch my back until S'bal makes contact. Once Yultorot is in sight, I'm taking him out."

  "That's a mistake, Vic. The General said to arrest him. At least give him that."

  "I know what he said. Things happen."

  "Not if you don't let them happen! You're going to get us put in front of a firing squad."

  "No I'm not, because nobody knows a damn thing and that includes you, Frank. I'm not arresting Yultorot just so they can turn him into an asset. God knows he could give them all sorts of dirt on all sorts of people, but that bastard blew up a school. A school full of little innocent kids, and I'll be damned if that one slides."

  Frank sighed and leaned back against the door, shaking his head, "Our only hope of pulling this off is to get in and get out without making a peep." Suddenly, he snapped his fingers, "I've got it!"

  "Go ahead," Vic said.

  "We whack the target and get him off Khor-Wa as quick as we can, all nice and clean. Then we take him straight to Cinth-Combs. We can just dump him on the ground and take off. We'll tell the General we never found him."

  Vic leaned back and folded his hands behind his head, "He might not buy it, but with all the bounty hunters looking for Yultorot, he won't be able to prove anything. That should get us past any board of inquiry."

  "See? That's why I'm the brains of this operation."

  "Normally that thought fills me with cold dread, Frank, but today I think you just might have redeemed yourself."

  "Now, the only thing the plan needs to do is work!"

  "Right, I forgot. The easy part."

  "Exactly," Frank said. "The easy part. What could go wrong?"

  The Samsara's cockpit was packed tight with consoles that monitored everything from nearby asteroid activity to radio frequencies used by over a thousand military and law enforcement channels. Originally, there was room for three flight chairs, but the third one had to be removed so Monster could fit. Captain Cojo braced his hands against the threshold and looked at the back of the mantipor's shaggy head, hunched over a blank display screen. Buehl was wearing a small sweaty tank top, the lat muscles of his back flared out like an angry cobra. Vic knocked lightly on the door frame and said, "You two gonna sulk in here all day or do you want to help us get outfitted?"

  "I was just running a systems check," Buehl said defensively. "How's that sulking?"

  "How many push-ups did he do after
the meeting?" Vic said to Monster.

  Monster shrugged, "I stopped counting at two hundred."

  Buehl snatched his shirt from his chair and excused himself past the Captain without saying another word. Vic watched him head down the corridor and looked back at Monster, "He okay?"

  "He'll get over it. You know how he feels about being left out."

  "I'm not leaving him out. I need him up here for a reason."

  Monster turned in his swivel chair to face the captain, his green eyes laced with strands of sparkling red crags. Vic saw that the beast was cupping something in his hands, holding it close to his chest. He could see strands of fine, blonde, silken doll-hair sticking out from between Monster's furry fingers. "And what's the reason?"

  Vic frowned, but only said, "Because I do. Listen, if you don't think I'd rather have a four-hundred pound mantipor at my side than a skinny medical officer, you're nuts. You know that if all hell breaks loose, you're the guy I want coming to get me."

  Monster's grip on the doll tightened, "So why are you leaving me up here, when I could do the most good down there?"

  Vic leaned back against the doorway, its metal surface cool against the back of his neck. "This mission isn't exactly Unification approved. There's a chance it might come back on us, so I'm trying to keep everybody out of harm's way."

  Monster got out of the chair and stood up as much as he could in the cockpit, looming over the captain. He slammed the doll on the console next to him, "How dare you stand there and insult my honor after everything we've been through!"

  "It's not an insult," Vic said. "You've got two wives and a dozen cubs. Bob's got two kids. I'm not dragging them all into this too."

  "We're soldiers. We're Grendel. Right or wrong, that's what we all agreed to. You're forcing us to break our oath. You're denying me my rights as a warrior."

  "We both know this has nothing to do with any oaths, Big Man. At least none that we made to Unification."

  Monster looked down at the doll on the console and closed his eyes, "Yultorot must pay for his crimes."

  "He's going to," Vic said. "No matter what it takes."