Steel Walls and Dirt Drops (35 page)

Chapter
Fifty-Four

Trooper Eleven Smith looked at the tall blonde woman crouched next to her, "I would guess that Mr. Jackson still thinks I’m with Kilo Squad, huh? Well, that's one message that won't get through."

Second Level Commander Aardmricksdottir smiled, "Both Jackson and the glass-packs seemed to be confused about where your loyalties lie.
But, you’re wrong. That message needs to get through. Not to Kilo because they won't believe a thing you tell them since you left their squad, but try to punch a signal through to anyone in Charlie Squad. When you get one, let me talk to Second Takki-Homi."

Chapter
Fifty-Five

Race Jackson crept forward as he crouched down behind the tabletop. With this protection, they should be able to crush Takki-Homi's team between his squad and Kilo. They were close enough for hand to hand combat where his superior numbers could quickly overwhelm any flight office defenders.

"Hey, Race."

"Not now, Sigget. Get your mind on the job."

"I
just had a thought, what if Taks sees us coming from both directions, then ducks back into the flight office and locks the hatch."

Jackson shook h
is head sadly, "You are a putz. Do you know that? Then, at least he ain't shooting back at us, right? So we punch a hole in the hatch or the bulkhead and shoot our way in. Hell, at the same time, maybe come in through the ceiling from the deck up above. Now pay attention, Sigget. Check that hatch there." Race pointed to a hatch they had just passed. It was in no man's land. No one had gone into or out of the hatchway since their first contact with Takki-Homi's squad.

"Already did, Race. It was locked up tight. Hey, do you think this tabletop is really going to stop needlers?"

"Damn, you’re a worrier. Yeah, it will stop needlers. I guarantee it or your money will be cheerfully refunded."

"Okay, but what if they got something other than needlers?"

"Shut up, would you? Look, if Taks had something else, he would have used it earlier, right?" His voice was confident, though he didn't believe what he was saying. "His team took some hits from us, too. Remember? We damn near took them the first time. He wouldn't have held much in reserve and if he had something, we would have more dead than we got. Not to worry, chicken-breath. This’ll be a cake walk in the park."

Foxtrot
Squad moved ahead until they were almost at the last angle of the corridor. One more slide forward and they would have Takki-Homi in their needler sights.

Jackson said, "Everybody
, listen up. They know we’re coming. We aren't the quietest bunch, but with us here and Kilo coming the other direction, we’ll get them in a crossfire and burn their butts. The curve of the hallway will cut down on friendly fire coming in from Kilo to us, but stay down behind this shield anyway."

He looked around at his
squad. Two rookies were dead. He had already forgotten their names. They were gone and he hadn't even gotten to know them; which was for the best. Trooper Eleven Portman was off to who-the-hell-knows where. Probably with his buddy Singletary running some scam. That left him with eight effectives. Two of them, Spaz and Dog Boy were hanging back. Both had been complaining about headaches after McPherson's day office escape. He shook his head and motioned them to move forward next to him in the front. He would give them real headaches when this was all over.

"Last thing: the word we were given is that all we have to do is get to Britaine and take him down. The Kiirkegaard's computer will record the coward's death and then automatically roll command to Paradise and we can get this bucket of crap back into the
game so we can kill some weed-eating S.O.B.s."

He glared at Spaz and Dog Boy.
"Okay pivot, and I do mean pivot, this table around the corner. Keep your heads down because Takki-Homi is a damn fine shot. Go!"

Spaz held the edge of the table against the left
bulkhead. Dog Boy inched the right edge out and around it in an arc creeping along behind.

Jackson snorted. He expected to come under fire when they first came into view, but nothing happened. He peered cautiously over the table top and ducked back down. Halfway down the corridor he
saw a small barricade built by the open FO hatchway. Takki-Homi must have had the same thought he did and used the conference table as a barrier. But, there must have only been one table, because he saw two needlers pointed in his direction over the barricade. Both shooters had their backs to the open corridor where Kilo Squad would approach.

He glanced at his timer and then scanned the faces of each of his
troopers. His gaze came to rest on Donnellson's face. Something wasn't right. It felt too easy. The only thing at their backs was that one hatchway, but they had watched it constantly since they moved into position. No one could have gone in there and no one had come out. Besides, the hatch was locked, wasn't it?

Jackson said, "Hey, Sigget. You said that
hatch was locked, right? Was it locked from the inside or the outside?"

"Damfino, Deuce. Locked is locked
, ain’t it?"

"Go back and check it
again. Stay focused," Jackson ordered.

Before
Donnellson could move to the hatch, it flew open, slamming with a loud clang against the bulkhead. Jackson watched in horror as a table dropped into place across the corridor. He saw Gaineretti, some trooper he didn't recognize and that crazy Peanut Trammler drop into place behind the covering shield. Quicker than a heartbeat and before he could react, three needlers popped into sight and began spraying a hail of needles into his squad.

At
the same time, a barrage of needles began splattering across the bulkheads and ceiling around him. The shots from Takki-Homi's position weren't deadly, but their ricochets were shredding any exposed skin. Taks' team to their rear was cutting into his troops like crap through a golden goose. In fractions of a second half of his squad lay bleeding.

Jackson shouted, "Cease f
ire. Foxtrot surrenders. For Mama’s sake, quit shooting." He threw his needler down and put his hands up over his head. Only three others could follow suit. When the shooting stopped, Jackson thought his best hope was that Kilo could catch Takki-Homi from the rear and turn the tide of the battle.

Gaineretti's head popped up and looked Jackson straight in the eye. Gaineretti's needler pointed directly at his head.

"Easy there, trooper," Jackson said. "I’m not going to try anything."

Gaineretti shouted, "Clear."

Jackson swiveled his head slightly, expecting to see Kilo Squad swarming Takki-Homi from behind. Instead, he saw half a dozen troopers vault over their shield and put their backs to him. Now they were facing the direction Kilo would come, if they ever did.

Jackson wonder
ed why Cauton hadn't ordered Kilo into action, but Peanut cut his thoughts short as she leapt over her barricade and moved in among his squad, tossing weapons back to the other two. Gaineretti and the other trooper moved to the open side of their barricade. The muzzle of Gaineretti's needler didn't leave Jackson's face even when the man climbed over the table top.

At a quick gesture, the other
trooper turned his back on Jackson's squad and began watching the open corridor. Two AMSF enlisted people stepped cautiously out of the hatch and began sliding the table down the hallway to the blind corner, setting it up as a forward watch point. The two spacers hurried back to Peanut and gathered all the surrendered weapons. They tossed all but two each back into the hatchway and slammed it shut, but did not spin the dial to lock the hatch. One of them rapped his knuckles on the hatch. Even from his distance, Jackson could hear the mechanism spin and cycle closed to lock from the inside.

Misha sent a short blast of needles bouncing off the metal bulkhead, around a corner and into a cluster of troopers from Moraft's Bravo Squad. She was both satisfied and horrified at the same time to hear screaming coming from around the corner. She didn't want to kill APES. She knew the ricochets would lose their lethal effect, but the needler would still shred skin. She dodged back into a hatchway off the corridor. Return fire splattered against the bulkhead where she had stood.

She
stepped into the corridor and re-leveled the needler for another blast when the weapon suddenly clunked empty and spanged the blank cartridge onto the steel deck. Misha stomped her foot and re-aimed the gun. She realized what she had done and ducked back through the hatchway, looking sheepishly at Trooper Na'aranna beside her.

Na'aranna
said, "A bit frustrated are we? I think we may be able to find you a spare cartridge."

Misha tried to control the deep red blush blossom
ing across her face. "Frustrated at the situation, but not with the needler," she admitted. "I was trying to activate the mass driver induction feed on my suit, but I guess I am not wearing my suit, huh?"

Na'aranna
said in a matter of fact tone, “I have seen that a hundred times. If you put a bunch of veterans without their suits on an unarmored firing range, they begin stomping their feet so much it looks like a chorus line."

Aggie Raza
tapped Misha on the shoulder and dropped a fresh needler cartridge into her hand. "I don't know what you two are talking about. That's never happened to me."

Na'aranna
snorted, "You dance around so much you look like you’re having seizures, or in your case, in the middle of an orgasm."

"
Moi? Sorry, Nana, but ain't nothing that ever moves me more’n sex!" Raza replied with a mock look of shock.

Misha slammed the cartridge into the open needler, "I get the point
, ladies. All kidding aside though, I don't think we’re going to get past Bravo Squad from this direction. Do you have any suggestions that don’t involve us ending up in a med bay or the morgue?"

Raza
grinned, "Well, maybe if we just ask them nicely they will surrender. I mean, you don't get if you don't ask, right?"

Na'aranna snorted. "This
is coming from a woman who has never said no in her life."

Raza laughed, "Come on, Nana. I say no all the time."

Na'aranna replied, "Yeah, but only when someone asks if you've had enough."

Misha looked at
Raza and then at Na'aranna. "Okay," she shrugged. "I don't think it’ll work, but it won't hurt. Trooper Na'aranna, see if you can get Tree and Greek to blast through this comm signal jamming and get me either Moraft or Paradise."

"What?"
Raza asked with a real look of shock on her face, "I was just kidding. Really, I didn't mean it as an honest suggestion."

Misha nodded. "I know, but
as you said, if you don't ask then you don't get. Plus this way may be cheaper and only slightly less painful than trying to fight our way in."

Na'aranna
after a brief conversation with Everridge said, "Tree says Greek will be able to do a round-about patch and you'll be up in a tic." The jamming had been getting worse with each passing hour.

Misha replied, "Thanks. Oh, did he mention anything about the source of this communications interference?"

"Sort of," Na'aranna said. "It was something to the effect of shoving glass-pack comm units into strange orifices on the guy responsible for messing up his airwaves. He and Greek are still baffled about the comms jamming. It doesn't seem to be localized around any one particular spot, but they are both sure it is internal jamming."

Raza
said, "My guess is that it’s XO Paradise because it sure as hell isn't us. That crap is more of a pain to us than a help."

Misha shook her head. "I don't know what is causing it, but it
’s as much a hindrance to Paradise and Moraft as it is to us. Codes and secure links are all that should be necessary for any conflict this fluid." She snorted. "Sound like a textbook, don't I? All I know is that we aren't causing the jamming and it doesn't make sense for Paradise to do it either. But then, mutiny doesn't make sense either and the S.O.B. is doing that."

Everridge signaled he had a patch through to Moraft.

Misha took a deep breath and tapped her comm unit open. "Mr. Moraft? This is Third-Level Commander Hamisha McPherson. You are participating in an illegal action. Stop all hostile activity, order all APES under your command to stand down and surrender to my legal authority."

Moraft's voice squeaked out of the
comm unit sounding tinny and distant. "Look, McPherson. APES are warriors, we don't run from fights. I won't side with a coward whatever the reason."

Misha nodded as if Moraft could see her. "Theda, I understand how you feel. Wait, let me finish. I know you don't know
me and you have no reason to respect or feel any loyalty to me."

"Damn straight!" Moraft interrupted.

Misha continued as if she hadn't heard. "But, I’m an APE just like you and I’ve been put here by higher command. You should respect and have loyalty to their decisions."

"Yeah
, sure! They left that dickless piece of pond scum Cans in charge so long that this unit is only one step above a pack of wild dogs. Since you haven't seen fit to lead us into this war, I damn well will."

"You know, Theda. I agree with everything you just said
," Misha nodded.

"You what?" Moraft's voice sounded baffled.

"You're right. Cans was dickless. And if I can't lead us through a dirt drop then you should. But, most of all, I agree that this unit is only one step above a pack of wild dogs. Considering all of that, Theda, do you think that even if we did get to dirt drop into an LZ we would be in any condition to fight and win?"

Moraft all but shouted, "We would drop and fight. We are
APES. That’s what we do."

Misha said, "You
’re right with one exception, Theda. We drop, we fight and we win. That's what we do. Are you so sure we could win?"

"I
’m not afraid to try, dammit."

"Neither am I.
You and I would probably come out of it alive. We're survivors. We're veteran warriors. But, we are also supposed to be leaders. How many APES would die because you and I are at odds?"

"Then get out of my way, McPherson."

"I can't do that, Mr. Moraft, anymore than you can just quit. We have screwed the pooch on this one. I suggest we call a truce, get this overpriced gas bag of vacuum-breather’s nuts and bolts back to Heaven's Station and let the big brass figure out who's right and who's wrong."

"I ain't running from a fight, dammit."

"You wouldn't be running, Theda. The whole op is flushed. We go back together. What do we care who drives this bus?"

"I don't know, Third. It just
-” Moraft started.

A man's voice blasted over Moraft's signal. "Shut up, both of you
! I am in command of this vessel and it goes where I say. And I say we damn well head back to Gagarin. You APES may turn tail if things go bad, but I’m an AMSF officer and I do not leave my people behind."

Misha sighed, "
XO Paradise, I presume?"

"Maj
or Paradise to you, and I’m no longer the executive officer. I have assumed command of the Kiirkegaard. And as such, I order you to stand down and surrender for arrest."

Misha said, "Major Paradise, I figure you
’re not in command anymore than Colonel Britaine is at this point. And personally, I don't care which of you pretends to be in command. At this point, going back to Gagarin is a waste of effort. Theda, you can see that, can't you?"

"I don't know, I guess
-" Moraft started.

"Shut up, Moraft
," Paradise shouted. "You do what I damn well tell you to do. You’re not paid to think. You’re a grunt, you’re paid to do what you're told. And you, McPherson, you bitch, how the hell can you call going back a waste of time? There were spacers and APES dying back there!" Paradise shouted.

Misha said, "Y
es. But 'were' is the appropriate verb, sir. What was going down in the Gagarin system has already happened! If the Allied forces won, then all we could do would be to help clean up. If the Allied forces lost, well then going back won't change it."

Paradise snarled,
"So, you still advocate turning tail and running? Are you asking me to relinquish my command back to that coward Britaine?"

Misha rubbed her forehead and looke
d at Raza and Na'aranna. "Major Paradise, I’m not asking anyone anything except to look at our situation. Right now, we are not going to Gagarin or to Heaven's Station. We’re dead in space. As long as this stalemate exists then we’ll stay here until we run out of air, food or heat, whichever comes first. Sir, I agree with you, I’d rather die in battle than become a corpsicle in space."

Moraft said, "Major Paradise,
I think she's right. Any battle at Gagarin is already in the history books and we aren't going anywhere."

Paradise's voice crackled through the
comm unit. "Shut up, Moraft. One more word and I’ll have you shot and tossed out an airlock with the rest of the garbage. Do you hear me, grunt? I will not give the command back to Britaine."

Misha said, "
I suggest we agree to a truce. You keep engineering and we leave Britaine in the flight office. Let's get back to Heaven's Station. The higher command can decide what to do with-

Paradise shouted, "Enough
! This conversation is over. Moraft, go do your job and clear my corridors of that coward's girlfriend and her yellow-bellied stooges."