As I ran it through my mind, I knew this was the "Mary" that Bayer was trying to kill all along. It had never occurred to me that it wouldn't have been a person, but the destruction of a foldship would certainly hurt SLA more than a simple assassination. I figure that it would be pretty difficult unless you had the serious ordinance needed to scuttle it, but a cache of WW weaponry and a bunch of nutcase vets to use it probably fit the bill. The only thing that didn't fit was that Bayer didn't seem like the suicidal sort. Granted that there wasn't any guarantee that he wouldn't cut and run once the fireworks started, but I had overlooked another option. What if he
was planning on trying to hijack it instead? I decided not to think about it and concentrate on what I knew to be concrete certainties. The bastard was up there and I was going to get him.
"What kind of foldship is it?" I asked, knowing full well that I didn't have any idea if they even had different types.
K'rth hovered in front of me, probably running through the facts through the same path like I did but taking in more details.
"It's a Medical Facility Ship."
"What if they aren't trying to scuttle it and try to fold out instead?," I asked. With that, K'rth tucked and spun forward into a controlled tumble that dropped him into the seat beside me.
"Alex, you did what you believed was correct and shouldn't second-guess your actions. You felt that taking prisoners was the only option because we lack the ability to interrogate corpses. Retain focus upon your goal."
I nodded and looked up at him. Even sitting down, he's taller than me and his eyes looked fatherly. Even without the mikes, the close quarters ensured that everyone could hear everything we said and someone decided to voice an opinion.
"Right! Sure!" McNeil barked. "How do we know that Cole isn't in on the whole thing from the start? He could be one of-"
Obie let out a low growl that boiled up to form words.
"Stowit Ahsole."
As a general rule, Obie doesn't usually curse and the words drew everyone's attention to what was happening. McNeil briefly met the 714's eyes before suddenly finding something interesting about his boots and ducked his head, his face and ears flushing to a faint red. Only a complete moron could have missed the implied threat but the Chagrin obviously didn't have that high opinion of him and kept staring to drive the point home. Considering that McNeil couldn't move in zero gravity and was strapped down a good four feet inside the Chagrin's reach probably left him feeling a little vulnerable and he tried to make himself look small. I turned back to K'rth and tried to ignore it, but saw Nix visibly shift away from the human.
"If I had taken the shot, they might have held back long enough for us to have gotten the rest of them. Now if we don't stop him, it's all of our asses on the line."
"Perhaps, but they will not escape," he said and opened one of the felt pouches on the ornate strap holding his sword's sheath. Pulling out a ceremonial scarf, he tied began to weave it carefully around his braids and said a short prayer before opening his eyes to look at me. "By my honor and on my life, I will see Bayer and his men destroyed."
I stared in amazement and then nodded in appreciation because the oath was one of his race's most sacred tenets. It wasn't given freely and by promising this, he had tied his fate to mine in more ways than one. There was no way Bayer could get away, at least as long as one of us still breathed.
I closed my eyes and concentrated on controlling the rhythm of my breathing to center myself. Before I got too far into it, I had the weird feeling that someone was staring at me and opened my eyes to see Gael's eyes on mine. She smiled warmly and I returned it, feeling a splash of warmth across my face.
Yeah, it had been a long and hard week, but not all of it was bad and the prospects for next week were starting to look really good. Self-consciously, I looked around at the squad and saw that Obie was still staring at McNeil. At least it gave him something to do because a bored Chagrin is a terrible thing.
Angus was the only one of us who wasn't content to be silent for the remainder of the way up. We were all nervous, but he was both hyped up and scared, mumbling the obvious like "Aren't in Mort anymore" and "It's a long way home." There wasn't a lot I could do for him, so I leaned over and patted him on the shoulder. He snapped around to look at me and his eyes were wide and anxious.
"I'm really uncomfortable right now, Alex," he said.
"No shit," I said and smiled, giving his shoulder a squeeze. "I know. I'm not either."
"I mean, if man was supposed to get into space we probably would have already. T'isn't natural."
"I know."
"This place we're going is pretty solid, right? It's not going to be leaking air or anything is it?"
"Just as long as you don't open any windows when we're up there, ok?"
He smiled and barked a strained laugh, but his face was gaunt the moment he stopped. Silently priming his blade, he decided to fiddle with the powerpack too but it didn't seem to be enough to distract him. A moment later, he was humming one of those stupid pop songs you hear in a lot of bars and Obie stopped staring at McNeil momentarily to join in. The two of them began singing a painfully off key melody that didn't exactly calm my nerves. It made me anxious enough to climb the walls and I tried to concentrate on other things, my mind acting like a rat in a maze that was running for its life or a hunk of cheese.
Saying I was scared of outer space was an understatement since it was an alien environment to anyone but K'rth and a volley of questions started in my head. Question: what if they didn't have gravity up there in order to save money like they did on this shut-, I mean CDS? Answer: We were screwed and ought to just turn around go home now. I could see that this wasn't working very well and the fact that my thoughts were matching the dynamic duo's beat didn't help much. I tried to think about what I'd do after we got Bayer and ran into a wall also since I had absolutely no idea. While beating him and anyone else we managed to catch within an inch of their lives seemed like a fun option, it really wasn't much of an answer. Besides, I wasn't sure we could take them alive. Okay, another dead end for my mind to slam into like a slobbering rat on UV. My head was starting to hurt and I rubbed my eyes.
Before this BPN was dropped on me, I was only interested in keeping uni coming into my account but the past week had completely reworked my priorities. Now my sole reason for breathing (or if I wanted to keep breathing) was to run a renegade down and I had little time to think about much else. In the background, my past popped its head up and I wondered if I'd live to see Mort again. That started me thinking about my future for the first time since I was a kid and I drew a another disturbingly wide blank. That bothered me enough that I gave up and I turned to K'rth for a distraction. Who says Angus is the only one who talks when he's nervous?
"I want to see what it looks like," I said and he looked at me. "I want to see what Mort looks like from up here. Take me to the cockpit."
As the straps were released, I floated out of the seat and he caught me and pushed me forward. I was as helpless as an infant and the sensation of moving without gravity felt like some sort of weird dream.
"Duck," K'rth said as I flew at the top of an oval shaped door. I could duck my head, but couldn't stop my trajectory so he gently redirected me through the portal. Keeping his hand on my shoulder the rest of the way, I was soon in the cockpit, drifting behind the pilot's shoulders.
Before us stretched a pitch black field filled with bright points of light.
I had never seen stars before, but knew what they were from stories. They were beautiful gemstones, but didn't look any more real than the rendering at the Gaffold building's café. Nevertheless, the only way I could pull my eyes away was to turn to the left to look at what had to be Mort. It stretched below us as a wide glowing sphere, filled with puffs of clouds and vast areas of burning lights. The center was a wide round blight, a black-blue-gray darkness that spread out like an ugly bruise across dead skin. That had to be Mort Central and I felt my stomach turn. It wasn't a pretty sight from up here and it was no wonder that Ebons and others born off Mort fell superior.
"There," K'rth said as he pointed forward.
I turned my attention and saw tiny blocks of shining metal flowing in rows towards what had to be the foldship. It was a huge, sleek creature with a surface that was black and veined like a deathsuit. It kept growing as we approached and my throat tightened. It was both beautiful and horrible at the same time and I was even more little intimidated.
"Operative, that's the Mariella Itaru ahead of us. We'll be docking in a few minutes so you should take your seat."
"Don't announce that we're with you, ok?" I asked, forcing my voice out of my throat and trying to keep it from sounding small.
"Not a problem, Operative."
K'rth guided me back to my seat and helped me to strap in for the final few minutes. I looked around at the rest of the squad again and studied their faces, but they all had their business faces on. This was just another op, like the many before it but the weird environment and Cloak's interest had made it an entirely new game. We had at least two WW vets and maybe five or so Interceptors ahead of us so it was guaranteed to be a tough end to the day.
Shortly afterwards, there was a low rumble, a rattling noise, and then a solid jerk as we were probably being pulled and berthed in the foldship. The gravity returned suddenly and I felt incredibly heavy compared to the past half hour or so. It was still a nice sensation to have weight again and I breathed in more easily. God, how I missed Mort.
The pilot I had threatened came back and leaned around the crates carefully to get our attention. He was probably still unsure if I was considering shooting him or not.
"We're docked in the aft section of the main hangar and it's got atmosphere and gravity. I'll lower the ramp and you can-"
"Hold it," Gael said, stopping him. "We need to decide how to do this before you open that." She looked at me and I nodded in agreement. We gathered at the door and got ready as I spoke.
"By twos like always. K'rth and me will go right, Angus and Gael take the left, and Obie and Nix are solo. We'll secure the bay and then sort things out from there."
"What about us?" Casper asked and I looked over, almost having forgotten she was with us. It's not normal for her to ask questions instead of making demands and it caught me off guard. I was still a little pissed about their little escapade at the customs station, but knew that we'd need them here.
"You take jackass and provide cover, then follow up," I said as I pulled my Blitzer. McNeil started to say something and I turned back, pointing at his face with my empty hand. "As for you, asshole, I'll settle with you once this mess is over. Got me?"
He nodded without saying anything, but his expression was blank and unreadable as he fingered the safety on a Gunhead. I wasn't too concerned about what was going on behind his beady little eyes, but a good boot to the head would probably straighten everything out. I couldn't wait for the chance, but there were more important things on my list.
"After you throw the lever, stay put. I don't want you in our way," I said and the pilot waved.
K'rth nodded to him and the pilot threw a lever before stepping out of the way and vanishing back towards the cockpit. With a whine of hydraulics, the side of the craft slid down to an alien landscape. Instead of an angular compartment made of steel and glass, there were massive tendons and muscle forming some sort of cavity. It was lit from above in an unusual gray-blue light and a faint mist obscured the floor.
"Are we in its stomach or someplace worse?" Angus asked, but no one answered. "Never been in a ship's arse before."
I was too dumbstruck to comment but the line of CDS craft sitting across from us helped to bring me back to reality. Taking in the thick, sweet smelling air, I could hear the rumble of distinctly alien sounds echoing in the distance. Away from the ramp, there was little to no cover and a lot of places for shooters to hide. Nothing moved and the scene looked like a snapshot out of some madman's mental playground.
This had the potential to get really ugly quickly and I looked at K'rth who met my eyes. Cocking my Blitzer, I steadied it with both hands as the ramp bumped into place below us. I also reseated my mike and earpiece and checked its power but I was still in the green and ready to go.
"S'tdnt rktmk!" he said and I nodded back to him. Behind me, I heard the purr of Angus's Claymore and could feel Obie's hot breath on the top of my head. Somehow the Shaktar saying of "Die Well" seemed to fit.
"You bet your ass," I answered and we hit the ramp at a dead run. It was a gamble, but we had no choice but to roll the dice.
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