Steel Walls and Dirt Drops (37 page)

The FNG said, "I think they're all dead, Sergeant Wilkins. What do we do now?"

Looking at Wilkins, Brown said, "Yes, Wilkins. What do you do now?"

Wilkins said, "I don't know, Chief. I never saw anyone dead before."

"What were you doing in my corridor?" Chief Brown asked.

“
Major Chang said there was a mutiny on board and we were to clear the corridors of all personnel."

"Major Chang?"
Brown asked.

"Yeah, Chief
. And he said to be armed and on our toes because hostiles were trying to take over the ship."

"So, Wilkins, your idea of clearing the hallways is to shoot first?"

"Oh damn, Chief. It's like I said, they just jumped out all armed and everything. We didn't mean to kill them. It just happened."

The FNG said, "Yeah, besides Chief
, if you guys aren't with the mutiny, why are you armed? Hell, you shot at us."

"Shut up,
son," Brown said quietly. "If you don't say another word to anyone except your lawyer you might not hang for mutiny or get a lethal injection for murder."

Wilkins turned pale, "Come on
, Chief. Mutiny and murder? We were just doing what Major Chang ordered us to do."

He
turned even paler when Brown said, "Major Chang is part of the mutiny, so what would you get for aiding and abetting, Wilkins?"

"Dammit
, Chief, all I know is the officer in charge of my section tells me what to do and I went and done it. Now I'm sorry for your guys, but I am loyal to the AMSF. Frak no, I am not involved in any mutiny."

Brown shook her head, "Where the hell have you been
all day, Wilkins? Don't you know what is going on around you?"

"Um, well. Me and the boys here
, um…got into a batch of homemade pruno and, well, I guess we got a bit shitfaced. I didn't know anything from nobody until a little bit ago when the Major found us and put us on duty. Look Chief. I know we aren't supposed to get drunk on deployment, but we weren't on duty or nothing. If you report that, then my career is screwed."

Chief Brown shook her head sadly, "Drunk on deployment is the least of your worries, you idiot.
You better heed the advice I gave your young friend to shut up and talk to no one except legal counsel. The two of you clear this corridor and put these bodies in that room with my men. You will both submit to my authority and confine yourselves with the bodies until I say different. Got me?" Both men, very subdued, nodded and began moving the bodies. "Leave all weapons on the decks." She told the men.

Brown called to Clancy over her shoulder. "Okay, pick up all of these weapons
and get everyone inside the vault. Call Buzz in the flight office using the secure phone."

F
rom inside the intelligence office, Cuff’s called out, "Hey, Chief. Forrester’s hit pretty bad. I got the bleeding contained, but I think we gotta get him to sick bay pretty quick."

"Can he walk?"

Forrester answered. "Yes, I can walk."

Cuffs replied, "Maybe."

Brown didn't want to leave the intelligence office to get the man to sickbay. With Buzz in the flight office that would leave Clancy in charge. Not that she had any problem with putting Clancy in control. She was a sergeant, a fine supervisor, and she could keep things in line. The truth be known, Clancy was probably better with people than she was. Someday she might even make a great officer. But, at this juncture in Clancy’s career, she didn't have as much experience as the Chief did, and if something went wrong, she didn't want to leave Clancy catching the short end of the stick. More than anything, Brown was loathe to send any of her people into a hostile situation. If security was patrolling the corridors, more of her people could get killed. She knew she would have to go herself.

Wilkins stood up
after helping move the bodies and said, "Let me help him, Chief. I know it won't erase my screw ups, but maybe I can help get him to sickbay."

Chief Brown nodded. "Okay, Wilkins. You
’re with me, unarmed and technically under my arrest. Cuffs, get everyone back on the comm boards and intel monitors or get quiet and stay out of the way. Let's get back to business."

Misha looked around at her team. Na'aranna and Raza stood next to her. Everridge and Lamsa were huddled in a corner. Ethica Kelly and Bear Cutler were sitting quietly but alertly with their backs against a bulkhead. Across the corridor, she could see Lamont and Ottiamig peering out the hatchway of a room holding the two-man teams of DeLaPax and Metzler, Steinman and Qualls, and Oberman and Ramirez. It was a large corridor designed for engineering use, for hauling huge machines and components back and forth to the various shops along the hallway. It was easily five meters wide and just as tall.

She
pointed a finger at Lamont and crooked it to her. She held up four fingers and pointed to her feet, saying nothing. Since she hadn't worked with Lamont before she was not certain he would understand her hand signals. But, she was sure if she called out, her voice would carry far enough down the corridor for Bravo Squad to hear. Even if she spoke softly and her voice didn't carry, they could be using enhanced eavesdropping equipment. It didn't make sense to broadcast her intentions. Her team would be open in the corridor and vulnerable to gunfire.

Lamont
waved a hand behind him and stepped into the hallway. Most men would have ducked and sprinted across the corridor, but Lamont patted Ottiamig on the shoulder signaling him to stay put and sauntered as if strolling through a park, except that he held a needler poised in each hand pointing down the corridor in either direction. He paused briefly in the center and sent a hail of needles showering Bravo's position. During which time, Able Squad Trooper Four DeLaPax darted past him. He calmly continued his stroll across the corridor and into the room. The return hail of fire, including the blast of a low-yield grenade, narrowly missed him.

He said
without smiling, "You called, Third?"

She gave a low whis
tle to get everyone's attention and pointed at Tree and Greek. They came over to her and waited quietly. "Kelly and Metzler, on the hatch. Watch both directions." She called across the hall to Ottiamig, "Tuamma, get someone else on the hatch with you. Watch both ways." She stood waiting while Ottiamig turned and spoke to someone in the room. In a flash, Oberman appeared next to him, dropped to one knee and peered studiously back up the corridor. She would have preferred to let everyone in the squad know what was going on, even if it only meant broadcasting to them over a squad comm unit frequency, but the jamming made that all but impractical. She would have to rely on her veterans to fill in the rookies as they went along. "Greek, blast us some white noise to cover our conversations. Furthermore, see if you can get an enhanced ear on any talk coming from up or down this corridor."

"Roger that,
sir," Greek replied, his eyes glued to the glass-pack and fingers dancing across the small pad.

Everridge added, "He
’s too modest to say so, but he has already been listening down corridor to Bravo Squad. We’re not getting anything much from them except the general 'get off my foot' kind of stuff."

Misha smiled. "Good initiative. We need to
conceal our backsides, covering our own talk and listening up our six, also."

Everridge nodded, "Yes
, sir. Guess I didn't think that far. That must be why they pay you the big bucks."

Lamsa looked sheepish and elbowed Everridge in the ribs.

"Oh, and Greek wants to know if we can bring Tammie on board with some of the communications work. She’s been hovering over our shoulders at every opportunity all day. We might as well show her some tricks of the trade, you know?"

"Tammie?" Misha looked confused.

"Yes, sir. Sorry," Everridge replied. "I mean Able Squad Trooper, what is it… Ten? Tammie Qualls, your communication tech? You know, Jigsaw? The rookie you have teamed up with Bear Cutler. She’s one of the most eager rookies I’ve ever met. She constantly wants to learn more, once she got over her being nervous about screwing up. I've got to tell you, she had an extensive comms background with the Heaven's Three Police Force, but she’s still hungry to learn everything we have to teach."

Misha
shook her head. "I’m an idiot, guys. I guess I don't know my own people well enough to know their first names yet. Sorry, everybody, I can guarantee that by our next op, I’ll have my own scoobies together.

"Not to worry,
boss," DeLaPax smiled. "I’m sure Jigsaw won't be offended. Like Tree says she's a good kid. For that matter, even with this patched up squad we got a better team than I ever saw under Third Cans."

Misha nodded, "
Okay, Tree. You commandeer Jigsaw whenever you can. Keep in mind that I don’t want to lose any gun hands. We’re all APES here. Comms is secondary, got me?"

A chorus of
‘roger that’ rang out.

Lamsa raised a finger and nodded. "White out affective."

Misha said, "All right, team. We seem to be in a stalemate here. We can't get into engineering and they can't get out. We can snipe at them and they take potshots back at us until there isn't anybody left on either side. Their defensive position will cut us to shreds if we rush them. The same thing happens to them if they rush us. Input?"

Immediately Tree spoke up.
"First off, I have more bad news. It’s very hard to tell from what comms we are able to pick up, but we caught a scrap of information leading us to believe another squad of APES is moving in this direction. Our only guess is that it’s either Foxtrot or Kilo."

Misha frowned, "Doesn't matter which, either one will chew up our backsides while
Bravo Squad claws away at our front. Other input? None? Okay, first: Tree, can you and Greek find some way to shut off the lights along this section? And I mean, without permanent damage to the Kiirkegaard? It’s our only ride home, remember? Oh, and go ahead and tap Jigsaw for on-the-job training."

Lamsa nodded vigorously, but Everridge only shrugged and said, "Can try
to get the lights out, Third."

"No
," Misha ordered, "Can do. Get to it. Here's what I need from everyone else." In short order, Misha had everyone lined out and moving into position. She moved the point of her ambush back up the corridor taking most of her squad with her. She didn't want to leave too few troopers to defend against any possible outbreak from Moraft's Bravo Squad, but she didn't know how many APES were in the force about to slam into her from behind. She combined two teams, giving Raza nominal team command over Kelly and the rookies Oberman and Ramirez. She left them as the cookies or the bait with instructions to sound like the whole squad was still in place. But, with only four troopers, they would also have to hold back Bravo Squad if Moraft tried to break out. They would be desperately short handed if something went wrong and anyone got past her ambush.

Misha could hear the soft pfft of a needler spitting out its glass shards and the whiney ricochet as they bounced off
metal bulkheads. She heard shouts when the return fire bounced back. With all the shouting and banging about the four were making, she would have thought a whole third-level command was in place.

She divided the remainder of her squad into two groups. One group
consisted of troopers Metzler, Steinman and Ottiamig under the leadership of DeLaPax. They were placed in a room a long way up the curving corridor toward the oncoming APES and out of sight. She admonished DeLaPax that under no circumstances were they to spring the ambush until everyone had gotten past them. Otherwise, her small team could be quickly overwhelmed.

Misha placed herself and the remainder of the ambush team about midway between Raza's team
and the curve. She had the majority of her veterans with her, believing she would be bearing the brunt of the oncoming force. If Raza's team failed to keep Bravo Squad bottled up, Misha's group would be sandwiched between two opposing forces.

She looked around for Everridge, Lamsa and
Qualls, but they were not in sight yet. Unfortunately, there were no rooms or even alcoves in this part of the hallway. Her team was huddled behind the few chairs and boxes they had found. Nothing they had would stop any serious weapons. She spread her people out as much as possible in case anyone had more grenades.

H
er three teams were far enough apart they couldn't see each other, but the curve would also eliminate friendly fire casualties. Misha still had room to back her team up if pushed by the oncoming force, but she didn't want the reinforcements to get close enough to shoot into the backs of Raza's team while they worked to contain Bravo Squad. More importantly, she could not afford to have the two squads hook up or let any reinforcements reach Moraft.

The soft swish of jump-sneaks brought her around to face Everridge
, Greek and Jigsaw. She glanced up, the lights flaring brightly. "No go?" she asked.

"Greek ha
s the switch ready to shut the whole thing down all at once, but Qualls plugged in a subroutine that’ll let us shut off what you want, when you want it. I told you she was a good trooper. Once Jigsaw got over her shyness and worrying about screwing up, she became a whirlwind. She’s wearing me out just watching her. Anyhow, we’re ready on your command, sir." Everridge said.

Misha said, "Good work
and a big attaboy to you, Jigsaw. That’s good thinking. When I give the word I want us in pitch black all the way back to Raza's team. I want it as bright as Angorra daylight at the point of that curve ahead of us and make it dark from DeLaPax's team as far down the corridor as you can go."

Qualls
asked, "Not just dark where DeLaPax is?"

Misha shook her head. "No
, I don't want anyone suspicious if they come across a dark spot. I want them groping in the dark for a long way, then they’ll cruise past DeLaPax to get to a bright spot, just like the light at the end of a tunnel. Can do?"

"Roger that,
sir," Qualls said. "The way Greek showed me this set up, all I have to do for a shut- down is slide my finger along the blueprint diagrams when I want something off or when I want it turned back on."

"Nice work
," Misha said. "Now, I want you back-to-back with me. Two reasons: one, I’m a better barricade for you than these boxes and two, I want you to watch our backsides in case Bravo Squad breaks past Raza. You shout a warning and hit the lights above them if you see anyone coming from that way. Got it? Good! Now lights out, it's show time." She was disappointed to see the corridor did not curve enough to hide her team in total darkness while still lighting up the ambush kill zone. Even before her eyes adjusted, she could see her team. The engineering corridor was wide enough to put all six of her shooters side-by-side. Instead, she had them quickly move all the boxes and chairs to either side of the corridor. The hostile force would be looking from the light into the darkness and with a little luck they might see an open hallway with a clutter of boxes stacked in the corridor for temporary storage.

Misha had Lamsa lay on the
deck next to the bulkhead using a few chairs as camouflage. Everridge mirrored Lamsa as he stretched on the deck along the other bulkhead. She took a kneeling position behind Lamsa stacking as many boxes as she could in front of her without blocking her line of fire. She brushed up against Lamsa's leg, reaching down she patted his calf in reassurance. She felt him jerk and pull away.

"Well,"
she thought, "he doesn't have to like me to do his job." She felt Qualls lean into her back. She thought that at least Qualls didn't find her repulsive to the touch like Lamsa. But then Qualls is a woman and probably doesn't look at other women the way a man like Lamsa would. Looking quickly behind her, she saw Lamont in a standing position along the bulkhead behind a large stack of boxes. Across the corridor, Na'aranna mirrored Misha's kneeling position. Opposite Lamont was her last trooper, medical technician Bear Cutler. She fervently hoped they wouldn't need his services after this skirmish. She knew her team was too exposed and Cutler could be very busy, very soon.

She worried the ambush around in her head, not thinking of another way to settle the
matter until she saw the reinforcement point men come into view. Two men skittered around the curve and slid to a halt at the edge of the darkening shadows.

"Hold it
," she thought. "Just hold up a bit until your tail end catches up. Hold it." She only vaguely recognized either man and didn't know their squad designation.

As if listening, both men stopped and turned to look behind them.

Misha heard the taller of the two men say, "Damn, I hate the dark."

The short
man replied, "What's the matter? Momma's little boy afraid of the dark?"

The tall man answered without embarrassment, "Nope, I
’m just afraid of the things that live in the dark. You would be too if you grew up on a planet like Nightshade. Should we move forward?"

The short man shook his head, "Nope. Let's hold until we have someone to give us cover before we move into that mess. Shit, looks like those AMSF clowns just left stuff stacked all over down here. We
’re most likely to trip over something and break a leg."

"How much farther
is it to engineering? Hey, how is Bravo Squad going to know not to shoot us when we hove into view?"