Gabriel's Redemption (25 page)

As he approached the platform, the doors to the stairwell opened and Takahashi entered the room, towing one of the mercenaries in restraints, followed by the doctor. He passed the prisoner off to Jimenez, who had him sit next to the other three on the floor.

“Commander, am I glad to see you sir!” Takahashi said with a smile. He walked over to Gabriel and reached for his hand, then stopped when he saw the damaged shoulder armor and the look on Gabriel’s face. “Commander, you okay?”

“I’m fine, Ensign, thank you,” he replied. “Everyone safe upstairs?”

Takahashi nodded vigorously. “Yes sir, everyone’s good. Well, everyone except Sabra. Remind me never to cross one of the Polis.” He looked around the room. “Where’s Tee?”

“Keven,” Sowers said, putting his hand on Takahashi’s shoulder. He started to speak, then simply lowered his eyes and shook his head.

“Oh man,” Takahashi said, his face dropping. “How?”

“Lamber,” said Sowers. “Long story, but suffice it to say he paid the price.” Sowers indicated Gabriel with his eyes.

“Oh man,” the ensign repeated, setting his helmet on the holotable.

“I know, son,” Gabriel said. “Tell me about upstairs,” he continued, hoping the change of subject took the young man’s mind off St. Laurent.

“Uh, yeah, sir,” he replied. “Doc Gilchrist and I went out a back entrance from the lab, and one of the Polis showed us a way in through the outside…”

Gabriel held up his hand as an incoming message flag popped up in his Mindseye. “Hold on, Ensign.” He allowed the transmission.

“Commander Gabriel, thank god!” the excited voice of Ensign Giroux said. “We’ve been trying to reach you for over an hour!”

“We’ve been…busy,” Gabriel replied, glancing around again at the mess of an Operations center.

“The captain needs to speak to you, sir,” Giroux continued.

Gabriel paused, looking down at the four restrained mercenaries. A plan was forming in his mind, but he needed just a few more pieces of information. “Tell Captain McTiernan I’ll call him back in five.” He cut the connection before Giroux could protest.

“Now,” he said. “Which one of you is left in charge?”

The
Yongsheng
had completed its braking maneuver around the far side of Poliahu, and now settled into a high orbit above the planet. The bridge crew went about their typical orbit duties.
 

The comm officer called to the captain. “Captain Yao, I still cannot reach Mister Santander,” he said in Mandarin.

Captain Yao sat in the battered command chair, smoking a thin cigarette. His tunic was open several buttons, exposing the top of his ample belly. He blew a smoke ring upwards and it collected near the ceiling, the bridge fans having seized up long ago.

“Do not worry, Chin. We will hear from him soon enough. If we do not in four hours, we head home,” he replied. He stubbed out his cigarette in the overflowing ashtray next to him and reached for another.
Doesn’t matter either way
, he thought as he flared the cigarette to life. They were already paid in full. Santander can rot on that iceball for all he cared.

“Chin, keep trying every fifteen minutes. Mister Pang,” he called to another. “Plot our course back to Earth. At sixteen hundred hours, we leave.”

“Aye aye, captain,” Pang replied.

Ran was trapped, having been sold out by the eyes of the other three. “I’m not telling you anything,” he said, still rubbing his jaw from Gabriel’s punch.

“Thought you might say that,” Gabriel replied. He motioned to Jimenez. “Stand him up.”

Jimenez bent over and unclipped the restraint holding Ran to the table, hauling him to his feet. He gave him a rough shove in the back and the mercenary stumbled towards Gabriel.

Gabriel grabbed the man by his wrist restraints and dragged him off the raised platform towards the area where the team had been held prisoner. Reaching the wall, he threw him bodily to the floor. Ran landed next to St. Laurent’s covered body.

Ran stared up at Gabriel with a sneer. “You can’t touch me, I’m a prisoner of war.”

Gabriel shook his head. “No, you’re a hired gun, nothing more. I doubt anyone even knows you’re here.” He stepped over to the nearby workstation and picked up Lamber’s assault rifle, inspecting the oversized trigger pad made for combat armor. He turned back to Ran and pointed to St. Laurent’s body with his free hand. “She was my friend,” he said in a low voice.

Ran’s face showed a flicker of worry. “I didn’t kill her, you know that,” he said flatly.

“Doesn’t matter,” Gabriel said, stepping back over to Ran. “I need some assistance. You give it to me, and this will go a lot easier on you.”

Ran swallowed. “I don’t know anything. Santander kept it all to himself.”

“I don’t think that’s entirely accurate,” Gabriel said, and placed the muzzle of Lamber’s rifle on the mercenary’s knee.

Ran looked down at the gun, and glanced over at the covered body. He took a deep breath. “Forget it, I don’t know anything. I told you that already.”

Gabriel squeezed the trigger pad, and the rifle fired. The slug tore through Ran’s thin coverall material, destroying the kneecap and ravaging the tendons and ligaments in his knee, then blasted out the back side of his leg in a bloody wad.

Ran’s scream could have been heard in any building in the colony. He clutched his ruined knee, whimpering as he tried to stop the blood flow. “You bastard!” he growled through clenched teeth.

Gabriel simply moved the rifle over to Ran’s other knee, and smiled a death’s head smile. “Ready to help?” he asked.

“Bastard,” Ran said again, tears running down his face. “Whatever the hell you want. They ain’t paying me enough for this.”

“Excellent,” Gabriel replied. “Doc, give this man a hand, will you?” he called. “Now, where were we? Tell me what Argentina means to you.”

Chapter 30

“Captain Yao, Mister Ran is calling for you, audio only,” said Chin from the comm station.

Yao stubbed out another cigarette and rose from his chair, stretching his back.
Finally
, he thought.
We can get home.

“Put him through on the overhead,” Yao said.

“Yao, this is Ran. Mister Santander is, uh, unavailable right now, but I’m calling to arrange our pickup. Mission complete.”

Yao smiled and switched to English. “Good Mister Ran, I send word home. Give details please.”

After a few seconds, Ran replied, “Please send this message back to MacFarland immediately. We have complete control of the colony, and all of the laboratory facilities. The first team is dead and we’re arranging the situation to appear as if they were the attackers. The colony leaders have relinquished official ownership of the planet to Santander.” He paused again. “Santander will be returning to Earth on the
Yongsheng
, while the rest of us will remain here to monitor the changeover. Please send that along with your ETA.”

Yao only understood part of the transmission, but ensured that Chin had received it. “Okay Mister. We send now.” He motioned to Chin. Switching back to Mandarin, he said, “Rebroadcast Mister Ran’s message back to the T-Gate station, encrypt for MacFarland’s account only.”

Ran’s voice came back. “Expect the shuttle in approximately one hour.” The transmission ended.

Yao reached for another cigarette.
Finally
.

“Captain, they just sent the message,” said Ensign Giroux on the red-lit bridge. “It’ll take approximately four hours to reach Earth through the T-Gate comm chain.”

The
Marcinko
had crept to within forty miles of the orbiting
Yongsheng
, in full stealth mode. All active systems were shut down, making it a hole in space. Only passive sensors were listening, and they had just detected the
Yongsheng’s
narrow-beam transmission back to the T-Gate.

“Understood,” said McTiernan. He pushed his hat back on his head and rubbed his close-cropped hair. He watched the readouts on the wallscreen. After a few seconds, he said, “Lieutenant Commander Vaillancourt, if you will?”

The first officer nodded and gave the order to the electronic warfare officer.

“Uh, Captain?” Chin said.

Yao sighed, turning from his walk to the head. “Yes, Mister Chin?”

“Captain, we just lost our comm system. Well, lost isn’t the right word. More like it just burned out.”

Yao walked back to where Chin was sitting and peered over his shoulder at his screen. Where normal signals would appear, standard in-system radio traffic, was nothing but green hash. “Well, that doesn’t make any sense. Have you run a diagnostic?”

Chin started to reply, then was cut off by a screech of static over the bridge intercom. The four men on the bridge grabbed their ears as one. Yao looked up at the ceiling as if to find the source of the noise.

“
Yonsheng
, this is the NAFS
Richard Marcinko
,” a voice boomed in perfect Mandarin. “Heave to and prepare to be boarded.”

Yao stared at Chin’s screen in shock as the hash cleared and a radar image of a warship appeared. According to the readouts, it was less than fifty miles off the
Yongsheng’s
bow. An alarm rang out, signaling multiple weapons locks.

“Captain?” Chin asked, looking back at Yao over his shoulder.

Yao tugged at his ear, withdrawing the cigarette from his mouth. “Answer them, Chin. Tell them we welcome them as guests and would enjoy their company for dinner.” He flicked the cigarette away in disgust and turned to leave the bridge.

“Acknowledged,” Giroux answered the
Yongsheng
in fluent Mandarin. “All set, Captain,” he said, switching back to English. “They’re standing by.”

“Thank you, Ensign,” McTiernan replied. “And remind me to send your mother a thank you card for passing on her Chinese heritage.”

Giroux beamed. “Aye aye, sir!”

“Lieutenant Commander, please bring us alongside the
Yongsheng
and have the security team meet you in the shuttle bay.” He turned to the other officers on the bridge. “Nice work everyone, very well done. Even better than the sims.”

Chapter 31

“I guess this is it, little brother.”

Zack was standing with Gabriel at the doors to the hub corridor. Behind them, the rest of the team was escorting the restrained prisoners and collecting their equipment.
 

A stoic Brevik was carrying St. Laurent’s covered body over his shoulder, having refused any help. Gabriel had seen he was very broken up about her death; he had been her commanding officer for over two years. Gabriel completely understood, fleeting thoughts of his lost Eden squad flashing through his head.

Jimenez and Sowers pushed the mercenaries along roughly. Ran was doing his best to walk unassisted, a medwrap immobilizing his left leg. Takahashi slowly brought up the rear, walking with the doctor and one of the Polis. The Poli and ensign were talking and gesturing like old friends. Gabriel made a mental note to finish the conversation they had started about what had happened upstairs.
Running out of room for mental notes
, he thought idly.

Gabriel turned to his brother. “Yeah, I guess it is. Shame we had to see each other again under such circumstances,” he said as Brevik walked past with St. Laurent’s body. “Sorry about your friend.”

Zack nodded his thanks. “Appreciate that. Just do me a favor,” he said, pressing a datachip into Gabriel’s hand. “He had a daughter being watched by the same guys who ordered this…mess. Here’s her information, if you can keep an eye out for her…” His voice trailed off.

Gabriel took the chip and tucked it into a recess on his chest plate. “Not a problem,” he said. “Our mutual friend here,” he gave Ran a shove as he walked past. The mercenary stumbled on his shattered knee and cursing in pain. “He proved to be a wealth of information. Combined with what my contact on Earth gave me earlier, I think there are going to be several people caught very much off guard.”

Zack extended his hand. “Thank you again. I know I haven’t said it enough, but,” he paused, then gave a smile. “I’m proud of you.”

Gabriel took his hand, hoping his surprise didn’t show on his face. “Said it enough?” he said. “Might be the first time I’ve heard that.” He turned back to look around the operations center. “You should be proud of what
you’re
doing here. I’m impressed.” He pursed his lips and blew out a breath. “I know mom and dad would have been proud.”

Zack gave a small smile and pulled his brother into a hug, slapping him on his injured shoulder. Gabriel winced a bit, chalking it up to repressed older brother torture.
 

“Listen,” Zack said, releasing Gabriel and looking around the room. “I know this has been a helluva situation, but if there’s any chance you and your team can keep our discovery here under the radar…we’d all sure appreciate it. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, and we’ve just seen what can happen if the wrong people find out.”

“I’ll do what I can,” Gabriel promised. “I’ll also see what I can do about getting some support to you out here. Money, material, whatever you need. I don’t have much in the way of, ah, legitimate contacts, but…”

Zack shook his head. “No worries, Evan. We’re doing just fine.” He glanced at the pile of plastic rubble that was a row of workstations before the two giants had fought it out. “Just a little cleanup I suppose.”

“Take care of yourself, Zack,” Gabriel said.

Zack drew himself up to full height, still a few inches under Gabriel’s forehead, and snapped an acceptable salute. “Aye aye, Commander.”

Gabriel’s mouth twitched upwards in a light smile. “No lid, civvie,” he said, indicating his bare head. “No salute. I’ll be seeing you.”

With that he turned for the door, following Takahashi out into the corridor.

“Minister Tevez, I have Admiral MacFarland on the vidline in your office,” said his assistant.

Tevez looked up from his massive sandwich, a bit of tomato falling from his lips. “Fine,” he said between chews. “I’ll be right there. Have the group assembled.”