The Terran Mandate (15 page)

Heist

Lt. Simmons sat perched on top of her
troop carrier with thick headphones hooked to a parabolic dish peeking out from
behind the crest of the ridge where they were parked. She tapped the control
unit and the dish twisted slightly to change its alignment. Through the
headphones, she heard the scrape of their boots across the ground and the
synthetic cloth of their uniforms rustling as they continued walking. There
were four of them - a simple foot patrol along the perimeter of the Second
Brigade's camp for the night.

Captain Brandt lay out flat on his
stomach next to her, peering through the scope of his rifle. Two more Marines
were set up on the roof of the second troop carrier, peering in the same
direction as Brandt.

Simmons whispered, "They're
stopping. Twelve hundred at two eight five point four five." Brandt
adjusted his rifle until he saw the target. Simmons glanced at the other two,
who each gave her a thumbs up.

"There's four of them," Brandt
whispered.

"Yeah,"

"We only have three set up."

She gently clapped his shoulder.
"You'll be lucky to get one before my guys get all four of them first.
We're just being polite because you're an XO and all that."

"Gee, thanks," he said, making
final adjustments in his aim.

Simmons waited until she heard the patrol
finish making its hourly report, drew in a breath and said, "Fire when
ready gentlemen." As Brandt drew in a breath and held it, the other two
men snapped off their shots. Through his scope, Brandt saw two Terran Guards
collapse in a heap. As he adjusted his aim for one that was still standing, two
more shots rang out and the other two fell almost before the first one hit the
ground.

Brandt shook his head and pulled back
from his rifle. Simmons, smiling down at him, said, "See?"

Scrambling down from the rooftop of the
second troop carrier, one of the other riflemen said, "Don't worry about
it, Captain. We'll make sure you get a certificate of participation."
Brandt shook his head and folded the bipod of his rifle back along the barrel.

Simmons unplugged the headphones and
hopped off the carrier, bending her knees to absorb the shock as she landed
squarely on the ground. "Displace," she said, and climbed into the
front passenger seat. Brandt hustled into the rear compartment with the rest of
First Squad and pulled the hatch closed behind him as the vehicle lurched
forward and started racing just below the crest of a shallow ridge. Brandt
slung his weapon over his shoulder and tightened the strap as 12 eyes stared at
him from behind blackened faces beneath helmets smeared with random brown
smudges. Even though all he could see were their eyes and the thin line of
their lips clamping down in silence, he knew what they were thinking. They were
Bravo One Nine. He was "other." A green plastic tube flew through the
air and landed in his lap. "Here, Captain Brandt," one of them said.
"You best camo up that face of yours so you don't give away our
approach."

Scanning their faces, he was unable to
determine which one of them was speaking and said to the group in general,
"Thanks." He pulled the cap off the tube and dipped his fingers into
the black goo. He smeared it along one cheekbone and then the other, massaging
the compound in a growing circle of black paint until it covered most of his
face. He applied more to his nose and around his neck until he was sure he
would be all but invisible against the night sky.

He looked at the squad and smiled. They
just stared back at him. The man closest to him raised his hand and lazily
tapped his own forehead. Brandt reached up and felt the patch of bare skin just
below his hairline. He smeared a patch of black over it and nodded. The man
simply put his hand back down.

Brandt was beginning to wonder if he'd
made the right decision when the carrier jolted a stop. Lt. Simmons turned
around and said, "Dismount. We walk from here." Brandt pushed the
rear hatch open and stumbled out of the carrier just in time to keep the squad
from trampling him as they rushed out and squatted down to form a small
perimeter. The squad from the second carrier did the same. Uncertain about what
to do, Brandt squatted down between the two formations as Lt. Simmons walked
out from the carrier a few steps and stood, looking at both groups.

"First squad will move to contact
while second flanks in echelon. We need to get in fast and quiet and then get
the hell out of there the same way." Shahn'Dra peeked from around the
corner of the second troop carrier. Lt. Simmons waved at her. "Come on
over here, sweetheart," she said. Flicking her eyes at Brandt, she said,
"And Captain, you can stand up here with me." Relieved to part
company with the members of First Squad, he stood up, brushed the front of his
uniform and strode as casually as he could to stand next to her.

Shahn'Dra, hunched over with her thin
claws intertwined with each other, stepped out cautiously, swiveling her head
between the group of men and Lt. Simmons. Her antennae were slightly unfurled
and quivered gently as she allowed herself to sense the mood around her.

"Are you ready for this,
sweetie?" Lt. Simmons asked.

"Yes."

"Tell me again what you need to
do."

"I will find the Old Scrolls and,
if necessary, I will protect us from the Dark Winds."

One of the Marines in Second Squad
chuckled and said, "Leatherhead gonna' blow for us fellas."

Something inside Brandt snapped and he
became somebody else, a madman whose actions he could only watch but not
control. He bounded forward, grabbed the Marine and with a strength he never
knew he had, threw the man several feet through the air and watched him sprawl
across the ground. "Mother fucker!" he yelled, and with a single
motion leapt towards the man and yanked his side arm free. He crouched down and
pressed the barrel of his weapon against the Marine's forehead. "Talk
again and I swear to fuck I will send a bullet through the middle of your brain
housing group." He seethed as the man stared back at him, surprised more
than afraid.

"He lost them," she said. It
took a moment for him to recognize Shahn'Dra's voice.

"What?" he shouted.

"This man, he lost them." She
walked up to the Marine, knelt down in front of him and looked into his eyes as
her antennae danced slowly over her head. "The other humans took them
away. Screaming. Crying. But they didn't find him. When he tried to run to
them, his father yelled at him to stay away." She closed her eyes and
began to coo. A single droning wail floated out from her, filling the air with
the agony of the boy that had become the Marine staring back at her. Breathing
through her singing gills, she let out a slow melody that cascaded down on the
first droning coo and cried a note for every tear the boy had shed when the
Terran Guard had dragged his family away years before. The Marine shuddered as
his eyes glistened.

Brandt pulled his side arm away from the
man's head and stepped back as Shahn'Dra sang for the Marine, just as she had
sung for him after his last battle. Her body weaved back and forth and the wail
grew in pitch and intensity until the man broke down and exhumed the soul he
had lost. He heard the shots ring out in his mind and saw his family again. His
father fell first, his dead eyes staring back at him as his face fell against
the ground. He heard his mother's scream choked short as another shot deformed
her face so badly he couldn't recognize her as she fell next to her husband.
Her sister turned and ran. A final shot threw her forward and her body went
limp as it hurled through the air and thumped to the ground. His breathing came
in sharp gasps and then subsided as Shahn'Dra faded away the last notes of her
wailing and drew out the droning coo into a single note that changed the color
of the universe itself.

She opened her eyes. Gently wrapping her
clawed fingers around his arm, she said, "I am sorry." She stood up
and backed up to stand next to Simmons as she folded her antennae back down on
her head so they could all clear their minds of her song. Lt. Simmons shook her
head and said, "Sergeant d'Vane, you alright?"

The sergeant stood up slowly, eyeing
Captain Brandt. "Sorry," Brandt said. "She's done a lot for
us."

"Yeah, I get it," d'Vane said.
Turning towards Shahn'Dra, he said, "I apologize, miss. I - "

Shahn'Dra gently waved her hand and
shook her head. "We will right many wrongs this night. Together."
Looking straight into her eyes, he nodded and resumed his position in his
squad's circle.

Lt. Simmons raised her voice so they
could all hear. "Everyone alright?  We ready to go?" The Marines all
looked at each other and then back at Lt. Simmons. "Alright, let's move it
up."

Walking in a low crouch, Simmons
approached the crest of the ridge. Brandt took up position to her left, with
Shahn'Dra behind him. First Squad fanned out in a wedge formation behind her
while Second Squad drifted right to form a second wedge. Once at the crest,
Simmons signaled for them to stop. She pulled her field glasses out of their
case and inspected the formation of troop carriers 100 meters to their front.
She waved Shahn'Dra forward and whispered, "Which one?"

Shahn'Dra closed her eyes and rippled
her antennae. "The one that looks at us," she said.

Lt. Simmons pulled down her field
glasses and looked at Shahn'Dra. "The one facing us?" she asked with
an edge of impatience in her voice.

"Its eyes look at us,"
Shahn'Dra said.

"Alright," Simmons said. She
looked at the first squad's sergeant and held up four fingers, then swept her
hand back and forth. He nodded and continued to move his squad to her right.
She turned around and made a pushing motion with her hand. Sergeant d'Vane
nodded and checked his squad's formation on either side. Turning to Brandt, she
said, "How are you at wetwork?"

Brandt patted the knife nestled in its
sheath on his belt. "Got it right here," he said.

Simmons looked back at each sergeant to
make sure they were watching and then waved her hand towards the target. She,
Brandt and her first squad stood up and ran straight for the troop carrier while
her second squad ran up and took up an overwatch position on the crest of the
ridge.

The two Terran Guards standing sentry
stopped and turned to look at Simmons and her team as they ran for the troop
carrier. One of them pulled out field glasses and looked straight at them, then
raised his hand while the other raised his weapon. Before he could even take
aim, shots rang out from the Second Squad and the two guards fell to the
ground. When they reached the vehicle, Simmons motioned with her hand, pointing
first to her left and then her right. First Squad split into two sections and
deployed fire teams on either side of the carrier, forming a barrier between it
and the rest of the Second Brigade.

Brandt grabbed Shahn'Dra and pulled her
down to huddle next to him by the front wheel of the carrier while Simmons
pulled a small block of explosives from her belt and smashed it against the
hatch of the carrier. She jammed two leads into and then hastily played out the
wires as she backed up. "Fire in the hole," she yelled and then
mashed the button on the controller. The carrier hatch exploded in a shroud of
smoke and shrapnel, revealing a gaping hole edged with twisted steel.

"You're on," Brandt said,
patting Shahn'Dra on the shoulder. She rose up and gingerly stepped through the
hole. Just as she disappeared inside, a clamor rose up from the adjacent troop
carrier as Terran Guards scrambled to respond to the explosion. Both fire teams
of First Squad opened up with a hail of fire. The Terran Guards went down before
they even had a chance to assemble.

"Clock's running," Sergeant
d'Vane said. Just then, Second Squad opened up from the crest, laying down a
curtain of suppression fire between the carrier and the rest of Second
Brigade's vehicles.

Brandt stepped through the hole and
found Shahn'Dra pressed up against the side, her hand stuck out in front of her
and her antennae fluttering wildly. He turned to see Shoahn'Fal glaring at her
as his own antennae fluttered. In a strained voice, Brandt said, "Don't
look at him."

"It's in there," she said,
flailing her hand towards a lock box nestled against the ceiling of the
carrier. It was made from steel, but didn't look too thick. A small numeric
keypad provided the key to the locking mechanism.

Shahn'Dra gasped and stumbled backwards,
still holding her hand out in front of her. Shoahn'Fal clutched at Brandt as he
started to slam the lockbox with the butt of his rifle. The old Shoahn' seemed
unable to move very well, but his claws dug bright strips of red in Brandt's
arm.

"Step aside," Simmons yelled.
Brandt stumbled to the side, nearly tripping over Shahn'Dra as Simmons fired a
burst into the lock box, shredding the lock. Brandt pulled the door open and
reached in, groping for whatever was inside. His hands found the case and he
pulled it out of the box, letting it tumble to the floor. Shoahn'Fal's hand
found it and he latched on tight. Brandt jammed the butt of his rifle into
Shoahn'Fal's hand and the priest pulled his hand away with a squeak. Brandt
grabbed the case and hurled it through the opening. He then latched on to
Shahn'Dra and dragged her behind him as he stumbled out of the carrier.