Children of Steel (24 page)

The troopers who had escorted us were about
another hundred yards behind. The same was true of the other side's
escort. The courtyard itself was partially surrounded by some low
buildings. It was a maze of small gardens, fences and other odds
and ends. Not a place where reinforcements could just drive in, as
all that stuff would make natural tank traps. But it did offer
plenty of cover for a hasty retreat.

There was a clear space of perhaps twenty
feet around the table however. So we would be pretty well out in
the open, but as the whole place was on a rise I didn't feel that
snipers would be a threat. They had had no time to get them in
place, and both sides were watching this area now, very
closely.

"Greetings Captain," said the Colonel
saluting, "I'm glad to see that the animals still have a
keeper."

I looked over the Colonel's staff. They were
all human and really didn't look to be that impressive. I guess
that explained the easy victory so far. Both the Colonel's and the
Major's equipment were of good quality, but the rest had armor that
wasn't even as good as mine.

"Sit down gentlemen," said the Captain
returning his salute. "We are here to discuss terms, not trade
insults."

I pulled out a chair for the Captain and
stood on his right, so I could still make a quick draw if I had
too. Everybody else sat then, I wanted to remain standing, but the
Captain motioned for me to sit too.

"Now as to the terms of your surrender. You
shall forfeit all your gear, except that which can be construed as
personal." Started the Captain.

"Isn't that a little outrageous?" asked the
Colonel.

"Not really, I don't expect you have a
corporate sponsor to ransom you? Or even pay your freight home?"
The Colonel shook his head no, "I thought so, any more problems
then?"

"No, I guess we can accept that." sighed the
Colonel.

"Next, the matter of the surrender. Your
forces shall lay down all arms, and cease all resistance within one
half hour of this meeting's conclusion."

"How do I know you won't just butcher us?
Those animals of yours haven't been taking prisoners!" he replied
hotly.

"That's your own damn fault!" Said the
Captain angrily, "You tortured and killed their friends! What in
the hell did you expect? These things are done by rules, and your
treatment of the prisoners broke those rules!"

"They're only animals dammit!" he banged his
hand on the table, "They're not worth squat!"

I heard growling then, and suddenly realized
it was me. I noticed when I stopped that both of the other guards
on my side were pretty agitated as well. I carefully moved my hand
down to the butt of my pistol.

"I don't have anything to do with you anti
animen types,” the Captain continued, “Personally I have always
considered you a waste of time. But this does bring me to the third
point. You murdered quite a few humans; I'm not willing to forgo
that item. You and your staff shall stand trial for war crimes, as
well as any other personnel directly involved." He gave them a hard
look.

"No way!"

The Colonel was getting excited now and I
could see the rest of his staff were getting edgy, I got ready to
jump myself. I could feel my temper rising and started thinking
just how nice it would be to shoot him and be done with it.

He continued, "They were just a bunch of damn
animal lovers, I ain't standing trial for them. They were just as
bad as the animals we killed."

"What about those 'animals' that were forced
to grace your bed?" The Captain had raised his voice quite a bit
himself now, and was angrier than I had ever seen. "That would seem
to make you an 'animal lover' too, wouldn't it?" He didn't wait for
a reply but just plowed straight on. "I don't like having to write
those things off myself, but I don't want to lose anymore of my own
people, and I figure that all your troops can't be scum like you.
Now that's my final offer, take it or leave it!" He spit out the
last.

I was furious myself; I wanted to kill this
bastard and all the others with him. I had my gun in my hand now
under the table; my temper was at the breaking point.

"Then I leave it!" Shouted the Colonel, and
he jumped up as he reached for his pistol.

I was faster, because I had already drawn
mine, so I just brought my gun over the table as he jumped up. I
shot him between the eyes and then pulling the Captain's chair over
backwards, jumped up myself. They started opening fire themselves
then, mostly aiming at where the Captain had been, I stepped in
front of him and managed to put six rounds into the Major before he
fell down. He had left his visor down, like myself, so I didn't get
the satisfaction of a head shot.

The other two guards managed to finish off
the remaining four before the Major had even hit the ground. I
heard distant fire then, and felt an impact slam back my shoulder.
I looked up and saw enemy troops were running towards us, firing as
they came. I grabbed the table edge with my left hand and heaved it
over.

I took cover behind the table and turned to
check the Captain, he was behind the table with me. The other two
had taken cover behind us on the edge of the clearing.

"Thanks, but I think I could have dodged it
myself." He had his gun out, and was looking me over. "You
okay?"

I looked down at myself. I had about three
holes in the abdomen, one that was definitely bleeding through my
armor that must have made it all the way in, quite a few more in
both legs, and another one in the right shoulder that looked bad. I
had lost my gun, and my right arm was useless. I got out the
grenade with my left.

"Could you pull the pin on this for me sir?"
I asked, and risked a quick peek over the wall. The attackers were
about fifty yards away and closing fast. A couple of shots dinged
off the side of my helmet as I ducked back down.

I checked the grenade, the pin was gone.

"Thanks Sir," and I tossed it over at the
troops. "I think you better run for it sir."

"What about you?" he started to say something
more but the explosion drowned it out.

"GO DAMMIT!" I yelled and pushed him with my
good hand.

He sprinted for the cover at the edge of the
clearing, as the other two provided covering fire. I could see our
guys coming in from the other end of the clearing. I risked a peek
over the top again, and could see the enemy getting organized to
charge once more. The grenade had cut down the front ten or so. I
guess they hadn't thought of
that
.

I watched the Captain retreat with the other
two as I felt my shoulder start to hurt. I noticed that my legs
were starting to hurt as well and I could see blood there now, I
guess one or two of the bullets there had made it through my armor
as well so I didn't think I'd be walking out of here. I also
noticed that there were quite a few dents and chips in my armor.
They must have had their guns on full auto to do that many hits, of
course four of them were pointing at the same spot. I guess they
just hoped to take our staff with them. Stupid fanatics, at least
they were dead.

I was starting to feel pretty weak, so I
dragged out my medkit and started sticking patches on the worst
spots. I was having a hard time of it with just one hand. I could
see my side's troops were still advancing carefully, and the other
side hadn't made it to me yet. It was getting harder to keep
concentrating on what I was doing. I dropped the kit again and it
was getting difficult to see. I especially couldn't understand why
the people from my side hadn't left with the Captain?

I was just a lowly Warrant Third Class, my
mind fogged a second, wait that's right I've got a colonel's rank
tabs, they probably think I'm somebody important. I started to pull
them off, then felt something punch me in the back and then I
couldn't get my left arm to move now either. I watched a squad
moving closer as blackness descended, and then I didn't care or
know anything.

I was in a world of darkness and pain. The
pain wasn't a big one, yet. But it was there, waiting patiently for
the drugs that held it at bay to go away. That led to the
realization that I must still be alive. I wondered were I was, I
could feel some kind of movement, and there was noise, a lot of
noise. But I couldn't make anything out.

Time went by, how much I wasn't sure, but the
drugs went away and the pain came on. It had waited patiently, and
its time had finally arrived. It was worse than I had remembered,
and I tried to run from it.

"Damn it, shoot him again! It's wearing off."
I heard someone say.

I couldn't figure out whom, but I know I
didn't want to get shot again. I had been shot enough. Suddenly
though all the pain went away again, then after a while the moving
and the noise all stopped. I heard some more talking, and somebody
complaining about a mess somewhere. Then nothing.

When I finally came to, I was lying on
something comfortable. I could smell that antiseptic scent of
hospitals that I had learned at the age of two. I opened my eyes;
they took a minute to focus. Sure enough I was in a hospital bed;
it looked like the hospital at the spaceport.

I looked myself over, my shoulder was
bandaged, my left leg was in a cast, and there were a lot of tubes
going into my gut, as well as my arms. I tried to lift my head, but
found I was totally restrained in the bed, even my good arm. I
waited until I saw somebody moving around the room and softly
called them over, no reason to disturb anybody else.

"Ah, awake at last I see." It was the doctor
who had patched me up the last time.

"How long have I been out?" I asked
curious.

"Three days. You lost a lot of blood of
course, and both your kidneys shut down. Actually one was
destroyed, and we had to replace it."

"How bad am I?" I wondered just how many new
parts I might have gotten.

"Not too bad really. You also lost about a
foot of your small intestines. Not enough to justify any
transplants from the clone tanks, so I wouldn't worry about that.
These tubes," and he gestured to the plumbing in my gut, "are
mostly sensors, they should be coming out tomorrow.

"You'll be discharged then too, but you're
going to be pretty weak for a while. You were unconscious in that
field for a good half an hour. The only thing that saved you was
those field dressings you used. They slowed the bleeding down quite
a bit, but your body's own poisons did a lot of damage."

"How's the war going?" I was surprised that I
was getting tired already.

"Oh it ended about two hours after you were
brought in. The Captain made an announcement that anybody who
didn't surrender by then wouldn't be allowed too. That did it for
most of them."

"Could you release the restrains please?" I
asked sleepily, as I started falling asleep.

"Just the arm, you were thrashing around
quite a bit there." I fell back to sleep then.

The next time that I awoke, there were no
tubes running into me at all and the leg cast was now a brace. I
saw Herza smiling at the foot of the bed.

"Rise and shine hero!" she pushed a
wheelchair around to the side of the bed.

"Ugh, do I have to use that?" I asked as I
sat up. I started to stand but suddenly felt lightheaded.

"Not so fast love!" She grabbed me as I
started to fall. "You've been through a lot, and if you don't go
slow you'll keel over on us."

She helped me to stand up, and put on a robe.
I then sat down in the chair; I was still a little dizzy.

"How long am I going to be weak like this?" I
asked.

"You'll be walking by tomorrow I'd bet. But
you'll be weak as a kitten for a few more days. The Doc says no
exercise for a week, wants that new kidney to set right."

"What time is it anyway?" My watch had
disappeared with everything else.

"Eleven o'clock. Let's get your belongings
and head to town. Your sister threatened to gut me if I didn't
bring you by her post today."

"We talking about the same girl? Gutting was
never her style!" I smiled weakly at Herza.

"You worried quite a few of your friends
there Raj. Twice in one day is a record for most people. You got a
death wish maybe?"

"At least I had the pleasure of shooting that
piece of garbage right between the eyes." I laughed, and found out
I shouldn't have, it hurt! "And I got his second of command too!" I
added smugly.

"And saved the Captain's life at that." she
added. "You had a record day alright, I'll give you that."

One of the assistant's handed Herza a blood
stained duffle bag.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Your gear lover boy," she looked inside, "Or
at least what's left of it."

Just then the Doctor came up.

"Ah, checking out I see." He took a quick
look at a computer slab the nurse handed him. "Nothing strenuous
for a week, and spend the one after that taking it easy too. You
can take off the bandages tonight, and be careful with that
shoulder, I just finished rebuilding the bones yesterday. Keep it
in a sling for a few days and let somebody else do the hard work
okay? Oh, and I'll be giving you a flight physical in a week or
two, so if you want to get in the air again, behave."

He handed the nurse back the slab, and walked
off to check on another patient. Herza wheeled me over to the
elevator, and we went upstairs.

"You didn't bring me a uniform did you?" I
asked Herza.

"Terease sent some of your stuff down from
the ship, and I got that new rifle of yours from the Major."

"That came from the guy who died on the
shuttle, I don't know if I can keep it." I replied quietly.

"The Major said he had no will or survivors,
so it's yours now. Anyway the stuff is back at my room in the
Barracks, where you're staying for now," she smiled at me.