The cover jerked Salom out of a deep, restful sleep. Her mind raced as her eyes sought the bridge repeaters, and her fingers fumbled for the talk button. What could it be? An attack? Fire? The numbers glowed red, and the readings appeared normal.
"Yes?""Sorry to disturb you, ma'am, but you're required on the bridge".She recognized the voice as belonging to Lieutenant Roman, the same Lieutenant Roman who had kept her head throughout the mutiny. If Roman said there was a problem, then there was a problem. Salom's feet hit the ice cold deck, and she grabbed a shirt. "I'm listening, Lieutenant. What have you got?""It's Rear Admiral Pius, ma'am. His crew took control of the flagship"."Any word on him?""No, ma'am. And we aren't likely to hear any. Not anytime soon. The mutineers took a hyperspace jump. Headed for the galaxy would be my guess".The theory made sense. There wasn't much law out on the galaxy, and the deserters would have a chance. Not to mention a fThe recruits trotted off the parade ground, missile launchers swung toward the northeast, and the entire base went to the highest stage of alert.Marco raised his glasses. "Tag the friendly, and order fire control to leave it alone. Tell the poor Special Operation Bases that we will fire the moment they cross the thirty mile marker. And Fo...""Sir?""Tell them that the first round is beers is on me". * * * Due to the fact that Shola's body was so vast, and her intelligence so widely dispersed, she didn't regard herself at being invested in one particular part of her anatomy. The fact that humans were convinced that their existence was centered in their heads seemed strange indeed.She could focus her beingness on the input recieved from selected sensors, however, and that being the case, she chose the gulf of Eden.Lacking any means of propulsion, the Say'lnt had been forced to expand a considerable amount of time following the Agulhans cu
Marco turned, saw the expression on the other officer's face, and knew Lucy had a surprise up her sleeve. A roly poly civilian stood by her side. He wore a badly outdated business suit and looked familiar somehow. "Yes?"Lucy gestured to her companion. "President Doug Douglas, I would like to introduce Colonel Dooley Marco, commanding officer of the 17th DBLE. Colonel, this is the honorable Marcus Doug Douglas, President of the Confederacy, a two star admiral, and chairman of Doug Douglas Enterprises".Doug Douglas stuck out his hand. His smile was open and friendly. "The captain forgot to mention that I'm past President, a reserve admiral, and retired from my company. A has been if there ever was one".Marco accepted the hand, discovered that it was hard as a rock, and knew why the other man looked so familiar. Every cadet who passed through the academy was required to study the Midvalian wars, and more than a few references to the now famous Marcus Doug
Suddenly, as if to confirm her suspicions, the ceiling screen flashed on. Sophie blinked, squinted into the light, and saw a school of fish circle above her head. She saw the bottom of a boat and bubbles as someone entered the water.The driver kicked his way downward. It was Leshi Quinn, or rather a digital Leshi Quinn, who had no need of a mask, tanks, or fins. His beautifully cut business suit was impervious to the water."Why, Miss Doug Douglas! What a pleasant surprise. Fancy meeting you down here. How's the water? No offense but you were due for a bath. Wow... nice pair of tits you have there! I would have liked to grab them, except that I'm somewhere else".Water poured down over the top of Sophie's head as the executive appeared to hover above. She blinked and wiped her face. The water was up to her knees by then, and continuing to rise. "Screw you"."Ah", Quinn replied. "If only you could! But let's stick to business - your busine
Marco took a remote off the worktable, clicked through a series of wall maps, and stopped on the one he wanted. It showed the southern half of Africa. The "hop, skip, and a jump" that Doug Douglas dismissed so lightly spanned the former countries of Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Botswana, plus a healthy chunk of South Africa.Impossible to make the trip on the ground, given the fact that Luton's forces were out there waiting for them, and iffy by air even with Salom's help. Stupid, really, unless...The officer moved the cursor onto the word "Johannesburg" and clicked. A map of the city appeared. "Do you know where the building is?"Doug Douglas nodded.Marco handed him the remote. "Show me".Doug Douglas directed the cursor to the north, east of Soweto, and clicked on one particular intersection. A shot obtained from an orbital satellite bloomed. The buildings appeared flat and rectangular. The shadows suggested that they
Marco nodded and scanned their faces. The words were Naa. "Welcome to Operation Eaglet. The objective of tonight's mission is to rescue a prisoner, put the resistance effort on the offensive, and kick some mutie ass. That okay with you?"The Naa were thrilled to hear their language. More than two hundred voices replied in unison. "Sir! Yes, sir!"Marco grinned and switched to standard. "I thought you might say that! All right, let's run the missing one last time". He looked at his wrist term. "We load twenty eight from now, and lift at 1800. There are two birds, one for the first and one for the second. Decoys will depart just before we do, scatter in every direction, and lead the fighters away."I'm going with the first. Lieutenant Goddear will command the second. Standard night operations and radio procedures are in force. Check your wrist term for call signs, passwords, and a copy of the technical order."Marco motioned to a technician, said, "Light the tank",
Lieutenant Roman put an end to her mental worries. "All units report battle readiness, ma'am".Salom nodded, fought the urge to clutch the arms of her chair, and gave the necessary order. "Phase one, execute".It seemed as though the words were barely out of the officer's mouth when the tiny red dots started to vanish off the display. Those located nearest to the loyalist ships were destroyed first, followed by mid range targets, and a few on the far side of the planet. Spy satellites mostly, mined by tiny self propelled robots and rigged to blow.The response was a little slower than Salom had expected. Were the mutineers napping? Or was their chain of command subject to the same sort of carefreeness that hers was? They had all come up through the same system, so the question was stupid.The naval officer shrugged, ordered her ships to attack, and said a little prayer. It was silent, but Roman read her lips. The "Amen" was hers.* * *The lights we
The rules of engagement were clear: Curtis could open fire if he chose to, but he didn't consider that to be wise. Not without at least one attempt to make contact. He switched to what he hoped was the correct frequency."This is Captain Curtis, commanding officer Security Zone Six, to incoming aircraft. You are in violation of restriction 5890 of the Inspector General code. Identify yourself or be fired upon".A powerful spotlight pinned the transport to the roof, a series of three flares popped high above, and weapons swiveled in that direction. The voice belonged to First Sergeant Hax. His squad was situated on the top of building three. They could see what Curtis couldn't. "Blunder Six to Blunder One. There's no sign of movement. Over".Curtis swore. The transport was a diversion! "Blunder One to team. Hostiles on the ground. Probable contact point north is the perimeter. Waste the transport, and do it now. Get Johannesburg on the horn. I want air support, and I w
Sergeant Hax was no fool and, that being the case, had detailed one member of the squad to watch their backs. His name was Guta. The soldier heard a noise, looked over the edge, and took a bullet between the eyes. He slumped forward. The waist high wall accepted his weight.Lance Corporal Frayer restored the heavily silences pistol to the specially designed shoulder holster, sent the spider robot up the wall, and watched the climbing rope follow.The machine picked it's way over the wall that circled the roof, drove a bolt down into the substructure, and sent video of what it saw.Frayer eyed the credit card-sized screen, nodded his approval, and dropped the device into a pocket. Swimhard swarmed up the rope first, followed by Shortsleeper and Quickfeet. It was an easy climb.* * *The area between the warehouse was fairly open with some cargo modules, cable reels, and a knee-high divider wall for cover.Marco dove behi