Authors: Tony Gonzales
Gable didn’t want to speak.
“I know it’s fucked up,” Jonas continued.
“But I keep thinking that if I can find Vince, I’ll find that little kid as well.”
“If it’s redemption you want,” she said, “this isn’t the way.”
“Maybe,” he said.
“I just hope it turns out to be a first step.”
“A lot of people are going to get hurt today,” she answered.
“You know that.”
“I do,” he said, moving back toward the door.
“But as mercenaries, I accept they’re doing it because they choose to.
Not because anyone is telling them to.”
Jonas moved toward the door.
“If it’s true what Vince has become, then there are lots of good reasons to be a part of this fight,” he said.
“And in the grand scheme of things, he’s the least important of them.”
Gable couldn’t bring herself to disagree.
“I never told you how I wound up at Core Freedom,” she said.
“Figured you might when you were ready,” he said.
“I was researching memory therapy,” she said.
“The Khanid were developing technology that extracts and manipulates memories from the mind.
They knew how to find what they were looking for but not how to trace all the cognitive and behavioral dependencies on that explicit experience.
I was to join a team researching how to do just that.
The lab was in Khanid space, on a planet called Hexandria.
I hadn’t even met the people I was supposed to be working with, when the Valklears attacked it.”
“Why that lab?”
Jonas asked.
“I later found out it was also a major center for Kameira research,” she said.
“Most of the science behind the breeding program was founded there.
General Kintreb and his Valklears had their hands full with Kameira attacks on Pike’s Landing.
Killing the scientists who created them was his way of striking back.
The only reason my life was spared is because I’m a surgeon.
Most of the medical staff at Core Freedom were killed.
I just happened to be something they needed.”
“What were the Khanid going to do with that research?”
Jonas asked.
“Use it to treat victims of psychological trauma,” she said.
“Removing the pain of harsh memories while keeping the lessons learned … and any good that comes from them.”
“Do you really think that’s all the Khanid would use it for?”
Jonas asked.
“Seeing its potential to heal was all that mattered to me,” she said.
“I wanted to be free of the pain from the
Retford.
I wanted to forget.
I still do.
It’s just easier.”
Jonas stared at her quietly.
“Please honor my request to keep your pendant hidden,” he said, as the door hissed open.
“It belongs close to your heart.
That’s where it’ll do the most good.”
“Fine,” she said.
“Hangar bay, ten minutes,” he said.
“The deck officer will direct you to ‘Longbow One.’
That’s my bird.
Your body armor and electronics are already on board.
Don’t be late.”
Captain Lears will provide orbital support from a Moros-class dreadnought, callsign “Hawkeye.”
There is minimal magnetic shielding protecting the colony.
However, there is a fully operational Cloudburst point-defense system.
Guided missile systems cannot penetrate the airspace above them.
Hawkeye will neutralize the Cloudburst platforms and blast a path through the western fortifications directly to the CRU truck farm.
This should clear the sky for our birds and the mud for our grunts.
The mission clock starts as soon as the first gunship touches down.
Hawkeye and the
Morse
will jointly provide overwatch for exactly ten minutes.
Remember, your fire mission is plasma bombardment.
Danger close is nine hundred meters.
If you need anything tighter, six gunships will be orbiting the colony perimeter, callsign “Longbow.”
They are your close air support.
Be smart about how you use them.
This is a bad place to get shot down.
Korvin was on his way off the
Morse,
hustling to reach the pod gantry level of the station hangar, when he saw Mack approaching from the opposite direction.
“Hey,” Korvin said.
“Got a minute?”
Mack completely ignored him and kept on going.
“Hey!”
Korvin demanded, raising his voice.
“I’m talking to you!”
The mercenary, dressed in full tactical body armor, was as menacing a warrior as Korvin had ever seen.
Black-and-red digital camouflage covered the plating all over him; a beat-up vowrtech and plasma rifle were slung over his back.
He also had a new arm, which Korvin noticed was much bigger than the last one.
“What?”
Mack asked, over his shoulder.
“I’m your overwatch for this op,” Korvin said.
“We have to work together.”
Mack turned to face him.
“So we do.”
“I have a few things to say,” Korvin said.
“So speak,” Mack said.
“Right,” Korvin said.
“I’ve logged hundreds of hours doing orbital ground support for the Federation Navy.
You can trust me.”
A guttural sound made its way through the scars on Mack’s face.
“Don’t judge who I am by my immortality, alright?”
Korvin said.
“I resent that.
I’ve never taken it for granted, and I’ve always tried to do good with it—”
The warrior turned away.
“Just wait,” Korvin said, placing a hand on Mack’s shoulder plates, indifferent to the danger of enraging the man.
“There are people out there like me with no conscience.
They have no fear.
No remorse.
That’s not me.
I hate them just as much as you.
Do you understand?”
Mack looked at the hand on his shoulder, which Korvin promptly removed.
“Why you try win my respect?”
he snarled.
“What it matter?”
“Because I admire you,” Korvin said.
“You keep coming back no matter what the fucking world throws at you, and to be honest, it’s inspiring.
I don’t have your courage.
Most people don’t.
It’s a gift.”
“You done?”
Mack asked.
“Oh, for crying out loud,” Korvin said, shaking his head.
“One more thing and I’ll leave you alone.… This protective thing you have going on with Gable…”
“What about her?”
“Look,” Korvin said, “I understand her importance to the mission, but sending her down there is a mistake.”
Somehow, Mack was able to sneer through the permanent grin on his face.
“You know nothing.”
“Mack, she’s a liability,” Korvin insisted.
“I know it.
Say whatever you want about my character, but I’m damn good at reading people.”
“Why no speak before?”
“Out of respect for Captain Varitec,” Korvin answered, remembering the lonely model frigate in his captain’s quarters.
“It’s obvious he wants her to be there.
Mordu knows it, too.
That guy could snap his fingers and make a dozen CRU experts appear.
It’s not rational.
So look after her … and yourself.”
Mack grunted again and turned away.
“Good luck,” Korvin said.
“Just tell me where you need the fire, and you’ll get it.”
The
Morse
and a wing of Catalyst-class destroyers will follow Hawkeye into the gauntlet.
This group will provide a defensive screen during the bombing run and subsequent overwatch coverage.
Core Freedom is protected by Stackfire antiship missiles.
Captain Lears has strict target prioritization orders and cannot disable these batteries until our gunships reach the surface—at the earliest.
The rest of the fleet will set up two hundred kilometers above this group.
I will personally be leading this task force.
At current Imperial Navy firepower levels, I’m confident we can hold this position for ten minutes.
Beyond that, the service charges start getting expensive.
This is not a bill that any of us want to pay.
Miles abruptly stopped his aerial symphony of hand movements, right as the
Morse
cleared the station hangar.
“I have a problem,” he said.
Blake looked around her displays frantically.
“What?”
she asked.
“Where?”
“I’m a total dick sometimes,” he said.
“Often, actually.”
Blake’s cheeks turned bright red.
“What the hell is wrong with you?”
she fumed.
“Don’t screw around now, you—”
“I’m being serious,” Miles said.
She turned to scowl at him, expecting a dumb grin.
Instead, she saw that this time was different.
“I know I really do have a problem,” he said.
“I’ve been hurtful to you and others.”
“Whatever,” Blake breathed, getting back to the business of captaining the ship.
Captain Varitec was in the
Morse
’s hangar bay at the controls of Longbow One.
This was her time to shine, and damned if she was going to let this idiot screw it up.
“Now is not the time to get fatalistic,” she said.
“Definitely not now.
Okay?
Pull it together.”
“I need to vent,” he said.
“I mean, if we’re going to be running a protective screen for the destroyers, we gotta be sharp, quick, snappy—”
“Shhh!”
she hissed through her teeth, checking that the other officers in the pit weren’t looking.
“Shut the fuck up!”
“I have a confession to make,” Miles implored, his eyes wide and scared.
“I’ve never actually taken a shore leave.
How pathetic is that.”
“What?”
“I just … I just wander around the station,” he said.
“Mostly in the Customs levels.
Kind of disappear there.”
Since taking assignment with the
Morse,
Blake and the rest of the crew were given more than a dozen general shore leaves.
She realized now that all those times, she had always left before him, and he was always there when she returned.
“I made up all the wild stories,” he said.
“None of them ever happened.”
“Ohh … shit,” Blake groaned, shaking her head, letting the autopilot guide the ship alongside a pair of Legion battleships.
“You’re the closest thing to a friend I have,” he said.
“Anywhere.
Not just on the
Morse.
That’s why I never leave.
I don’t have anyplace else to go.”
She looked over toward him and was horrified.
“Oh, my god, are you
crying
?”
she asked.
“I’m more afraid of not having anyone to talk to than I am of getting blown to bits,” he said, rubbing his eyes.
“Fucking terrified.
You have no idea.
Please don’t let anyone see me like this.
I’m really sorry.”
“You know what your problem is?”
she said.
“When you’re not in your element, you always think you’ve lost already.
Stop giving up on yourself!
You want to make friends?
Care about how a conversation goes once in a while.
Stop trying to impress everyone.
You’re not the jerk you think you are.
At least, not all of the time.”
“Really?”
he said.
“You mean that?”
“That’s all the sunshine you’re going to get,” she said, turning her attention back to the
Morse
’s controls.
“Harden the fuck up, Miles.
It’s game time.”
Fire teams Dagger, Rawhide, Frostbite, and Ironbound will escort Baseplate to the objective.
Your mission is simple: Make sure Baseplate and the HVI survive.
You are weapons-free: If it’s gold, I encourage you to shoot it.
Four CreoDron Rantula series antiarmor drones will deploy with each team.
They will buy you time against mechanized units.
They are also intimately familiar with your biometrics.
Anyone they don’t recognize will be turned into chunky kibbles.
When you reach the CRU farm, fan out in defensive positions and help locate the HVI.
Once Baseplate has him secured, Longbow will transport your teams to the extraction point, code name “Disciple,” located southwest of the space elevator.
We’re going to use the ground terminus as cover.
Dropships will be waiting there to transport all teams back into orbit.