No Mercy (Blood War Book 4) Page 18
“Go, New York Harbor.”
“Is the captain available now?”
“Negative. He is still indisposed. I didn’t want to say anything before, but it has been a long voyage and he is sleeping off celebrating getting into port.”
“Very well, advise the captain I wish to speak to him as soon as he is able.”
“Roger, 1206.”
An would never go on a bender because he reached port. He was too good a captain. Dunc did not like the feel of this whole thing. He glanced at a display that showed the schedules for board-and-search by the DATs and saw they were a whole day behind. He needed a DAT team now. He searched for DATs on other vessels and saw that the Phoenix had rescued one from the asteroid-belt battle and they were available.
“New York Harbor Actual to CVN Phoenix.”
“This is the Phoenix.”
“Phoenix, I’m in urgent need of a DAT team and I see you have one from the asteroid belt on board. I need them to report to the harbor for an urgent mission.”
“Stand by, New York.”
It was several minutes before the Phoenix returned with an answer, as the request went up the chain of command to Admiral Grogen.
“New York, that is an affirmative. We are scrambling them now. ETA one hour.”
“Roger. Thanks much, Phoenix. This is New York Harbor Actual out.”
Dunc had a bad feeling that he could not shake, but the DAT team could take care of anything.
Chapter 28
City-State of New York
Secretary General’s Mega
Civilian Shelter
Mala still held Micha’s hand as they stepped off the elevator fifty floors beneath the surface. Hu followed closely behind, with little Astrid still clutching his neck. The rest of the platoon trailed with the other civilians. The passageway was steel lined, and the boots of their armor echoed as they walked toward the door that led into the shelter and pushed it open.
It was a huge room, with other rooms off the main one. It was well lit and very comfortably furnished with what appeared to be expensive furniture pieces from apartments in the Mega above. A number of sophisticated food printers that could make anything you wanted whenever you wanted it lined one wall. The men and women in the main room all turned as one as Hu and Nani walked in with the rest of the platoon and their civilians. The people in the shelter were all Sols—tall, blonde, and good looking. Each exuded arrogance even when confronted with a platoon of Marines. The Confederation was built around them, and they enjoyed its every advantage and pleasure. They were citizens by birth and did not have to earn it the way the populations of other systems did. There was a sudden murmur, growing louder as Nani and Hu walked in and put the girls down on a plush sofa. An official-looking man walked up to them. He wore a uniform that looked like that of a law-enforcement officer.
“What is the meaning of this? These people are not allowed in here. They’re offworlders. They’re just workers. We don’t have room for them.”
“And you are?” Nani said quietly.
Hu watched her closely. The last time he had seen this look she had put three people in the hospital, and then she hadn’t been in armor.
“I am Special Agent Bruno of the Confederation Bureau of Investigation.”
“Well, Special Agent, there has been a little change in who can stay in this shelter,” Nani said.
“I have received no such orders. By what authority do you get to change the laws of Earth?”
Nani smiled slowly and lifted her rail until it was under his chin. The rest of the platoon lifted their weapons and pointed them at the other occupants of the shelter.
“This little weapon I have under your chin.”
“Now see here...”
“No, you see here. There is not a Marine in this room who is not an offworlder. In fact, most of us are mongrels by your standards, but we are the ones protecting your sorry asses. So you will do as I say or you will not believe the consequences.”
“I’ll not stand here to be threatened by some marine. Who is the officer in charge? I want to speak to them immediately.”
Nani touched her comm, and a holo of Captain Masa appeared.
“What have you got, Lieutenant?”
“We found some civilians not in a shelter. We brought them to one and the Sols are refusing to let them in.”
“And why is that?”
“They’re offworlders who were being used as household help.”
“Really. You’re not the first to run into this. General Sand has put out orders that he be informed of each of these incidents. Let me get him on the line.”
Bruno’s face became more confident. He seemed to think that Sand would order them to take the civilians out of the shelter. Sand’s face appeared in the holo. Behind him you could see the CIC filled with men and women preparing for the battle.
“Well. Lieutenant Nani, somehow I knew it would be you. What is the problem?”
Before she could answer, Bruno stepped in front of the holo. Hu noticed a woman who had just stepped into the room. Her head snapped around when she heard Sand’s voice. She was one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen, and she was standing in a room full of beautiful women. She moved with a confidence that came with power. She was somebody, Hu thought to himself.
“Sir,” Bruno said, “I must apologize for bothering you at such a time, but this lieutenant is trying to make us accept these offworlders in a shelter designed for Sols only. I am sure you understand our reluctance. After all these are just maids and other houseworkers. This is a shelter designated for elected and appointed officials and their families only. These offworlders need to go somewhere else.”
With a satisfied smile, Bruno waited for Sand’s answer.
“May I speak to the Lieutenant, please?” Sand said.
“Of course, sir.”
Bruno stepped back, convinced the famous General Sand would certainly side with him and not this mongrel.
“Lieutenant, you do like to stir things up.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Well, Lieutenant, the civilians you found will stay in that shelter and should you encounter any more opposition, I authorize you to take whatever steps you deem necessary to make this happen.”
“Rules of engagement, sir?”
“Lieutenant, I didn’t mention any rules. You are authorized to use any force necessary. Now I have a battle to plan. Handle it.”
Bruno’s face was white. His mouth opened and closed without making a sound. Hu carefully put Astrid down then stepped up, grabbed him by the collar, and lifted him off the ground. He jerked his famous razor-sharp short shovel off the leg of his armor. He held the shovel under Bruno’s chin.
“LT, this shit said there wasn’t enough room for them. Is it all right if I start with this guy and make room for our friends?”
“Yes, Sergeant. Take care of our him. But do it outside. I don’t want the kids to see.”
“You care where I put the body?” Hu asked as he walked toward the door holding Bruno up.
“No. Just outside.”
“You can’t do this. It’s murder. I’m an official of the Confederation. You’ll be executed!” Bruno wailed as his feet kicked in the air, trying to get out of the armored grip of Hu.
Hu slammed him against the wall.
“I’ve been killing aliens and hybrids for years so a piece of shit like you would be safe and sound. I long ago crossed the line where one more killing would bother me. In fact, I would feel good about it.”
“But, but, but...”
No one in the platoon made a move to stop him. The civilians they had brought with them could only stare in amazement at how a marine was handling a Confederation law-enforcement officer. If they had done it, it would mean jail and deportation, or worse. Hu was going to kill this fuck for all the other fucks that treated them as less than they were because they weren’t Sol or Von Fleet or one of the other types of important people. Out of the corner of
his eye, Hu saw the beautiful woman moving quickly toward. She suddenly stopped.
“Please, don’t,” a small voice said.
Hu looked down. It was Astrid. The large, dark eyes were serious.
“But he wasn’t going to let you in. He didn’t care if aliens got you or not.”
“Please don’t. For me.”
Hu looked into those young, serious eyes and thought of his sisters. He tossed Bruno across the room, where he landed in a heap. Hu knelt down so he could look Astrid in the eye.
“Why, sweetie? He is a bad man.”
“Because you’re a good one. You made me feel safe.”
“I’m not so sure anymore, sweetie.”
Astrid frowned and said, “Yes you are!”
She put one hand on his face, and it took all the anger out of Hu. He looked over at Nani, who smiled and nodded. Hu hesitated. He really did want to kill that officious fuck who would leave a little girl to the aliens. One less Sol didn’t really matter. But Astrid had said he was a good man. He had not thought of himself that way in a very long time now.
“Okay, sweetie. I won’t hurt him.”
“Good. I will be safe here.”
The beautiful blonde woman walked up to Nani and said, “Lieutenant, I might be able to help. I promise to take care of the girls and the others.”
Nani looked at the woman. In her own way she was as beautiful as the woman, but her beauty had been changed by the war. There was a hardness to it that had not been there before.
“And who are you? And why didn’t you speak up sooner?”
“I was out of the room when you came in.”
“Okay, who are you? Why would these idiots listen to you?”
“My name is Kat Von Fleet. I am an assistant to the secretary general.”
The rest of the squad immediately turned to look at the woman. So this was the Kat they had all heard about. The general’s mistress.
“You’re the Kat?”
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what ‘the Kat’ means.”
“General Sand’s, uh...girlfriend.”
The woman hesitated for a moment, then said with a smirk, “I hope I’m still his ‘girlfriend,’ as you put it. How did you know?”
“Let’s just say the men and women who were on security duty the night you two meet kept a close eye on the general. Word gets around. We like the general a lot. We want to make sure he makes good choices.”
Kat said, “Okay. Do his troops approve?”
Nani looked her up and down with frank interest.
“They might, but I don’t. I don’t like anything about Von Fleet, much less a member of the family. I got life in the Legion after I killed a Von Fleet executive who abused a girl about Micha’s age. She had been sold into a brothel like me.”
Kat’s eyes met Nani’s. It was like watching two lionesses size each other up. There was no backup in Kat. She stood there before saying, “Sounds like he got what he deserved.”
Nani didn’t say a word for a long time. She just stared into Kat’s eyes. “Can you take care of the girls as well as the rest of these people?”
“Of course.”
Kat knelt and held her arms out for the girls to come to her. Micha and Astrid both looked up at Nani. She just nodded. The girls slowly approached. Kat shook Micha’s hand and said, “My name is Kat. What’s yours?”
“Micha, and this is my sister Astrid.”
“So nice to meet you two girls. Are you hungry? We can make anything you want on these printers.”
Hu saw this powerful and important woman put two very scared girls at ease with a few words. He was impressed. It looked like the general could pick them.
Kat was leading the girls toward the food printers. Hu reached into his armor for a small, portable comm unit they used for special missions.
“Wait a minute,” Hu said, and he walked over to Kat and the girls and knelt. He held the small comm unit out in his open hand.
“Now, if they are mean to you, just push that button. I will know what it means, and I will come back with my friends. Okay?”
Both girls nodded. Then Astrid kissed him on the cheek. Hu stood and cleared his throat to hide his emotions.
“It looks like we have an agreement here,” Nani said. “As my sergeant said, if she pushes that button either we will come or we will send some friends of ours. You better pray she never pushes that button. You heard General Sand. No rules. You don’t want to see what that means to us. Okay, we got a war to fight.”
Kat looked at Nani and said, “If I let something happen to these girls, then I deserve it. We clear?”
Nani hesitated and then said, “We’re clear.”
The platoon hinged their helmets down. But before Hu did, his eyes met the little girl’s and she waved. He hinged it down and got ready to go back to the violent world where he belonged.
Chapter 29
City-State of New York
Times Square
Marine Mobile Headquarters
As soon as Nani and the platoon had left the shelter, they were ordered to report to General Sand’s current position. He was investigating the Alamo Nani had suggested. He was standing in the middle of a pedestrian island at the center of the intersections. His command group surrounded him: Naval Lieutenant Chuto, Major Regen, and Major Farran. The support techs were busy marking the best positions for units on the 3-D display.
“How do you like it, sir?” Nani said, walking up to the general.
“I like it. It is a great space for a fight. The only thing we don’t have are the Mike boats. With the Mega over us they can’t get here.”
“I thought about that, sir, but this is directly over the headquarters complex and it’s good ground to defend. I wouldn’t want to have to assault this place.”
Sand smiled and said, “You were at the airport on Rift, weren’t you?”
“Yes, me and Hu and most of the platoon.”
“Did you hear that I put together a Quick Reaction Force at the garage on Rift?”
“Yeah, you used a bunch of the old sergeants and some of the old hands. I heard it worked well.”
“It saved our asses, Lieutenant. If I’m not mistaken, the surviving members are now lieutenants in your company. Right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Okay, then you understand the concept. I am going to use it again, and the Raiders are it. I’m putting them on Long Island to face the Xotoli. When I need to, I’m going to pull you out of the company to be my fire brigade. I’m going to send you into the hottest spots to stabilize things or take advantage of an opening.”
Nani looked down, then scanned the other members of the platoon. She knew what they were thinking. She had to say it. “Sir, how did we get so lucky?”
Sand chuckled and said, “Simple. Your platoon happens to have the most surviving veterans of Rift, 703, and Chika. The other platoons have suffered more casualties and have a lot of new replacements in their ranks. Granted, they’re Raiders and have combat experience, but armies found out a long time ago that to put new replacements into a well-established and combat-hardened unit degrades its effectiveness. So by being good and staying alive, you earn the shittiest jobs.”
“I love the military,” someone in the platoon mumbled.
Sand chuckled. “She’s right, but that's how it is.”
“Aye, aye, sir.”
“Good. Come over here. I want you to have at least a basic understanding of what the strategy is, because you may be put into a position that demands sacrifice, and you can only make that decision if you understand the plan. Blow up the 3-D.”
The general’s situational-awareness tech blew up a 3-D map of New York.
“This place is unbelievably complex. There are sections where they simply put a dome on existing neighborhoods and left the buildings intact or left a park untouched.”
Sand pointed to a big park to their north.
“We’ve retracted the dome and are using it as a s
taging area for now. The Mike boats are shuttling conscripts down from the Tarawa. But in other areas these Mega buildings go from the ground up. Then there are neighborhoods where they left the existing buildings and built a Mega on top, like here in Times Square. Then there are the slums where offworld workers live in ancient buildings, and there are actually streets where people walk. So you have the most complex tactical terrain you can imagine.”
Nani stood there looking at the city. It was truly amazing. The size and complexity was staggering, and each and every one of those different areas produced different tactical challenges. Nani could not understand how they were going to protect this ground. It was too big, and there were too many ways around to block them all. Nani got a knot in her stomach just thinking about it. A drop would have been better than this.
“Okay. I know what you’re thinking. ‘Our general has gone off the deep end and frankly it was the only way I came up with a solution. Now see this island over here it’s called Long Island.”
He pointed to an island that ran roughly east/west from Manhattan the island they were on.
“I think our Xotoli general is a smart guy. If he lands on the continent, he will have to worry about his back. So I think he's going to land on Long Island and set up a base. The Raiders will be in place, and I’m putting you at one of the airports. I think he will use those as LZs.”
Nani looked at the size of the island. “Who else, sir?”
“Nobody. You’re it. I’ve given Major Regen his orders. The Raiders’ job will be to harass their landings and cause as many casualties as possible while suffering as few casualties as possible. You are to hit them and run. Shoot and scoot, falling back to Manhattan. I’ve told Regen that he may loose your platoon at any time if the need arises. So be prepared to pull up shop and put out fires.”
There were murmurs from the platoon behind her.
“We’ll be way out on a limb, out there all by ourselves. Just us and two other platoons.”
Sand smiled. “Yes, you will. But I figure they are going to use the same tactics they used on Rift. Those spike troops first, followed by their armored infantry. There are four old airports. I haven’t had time to see which are still used, or if they have a Mega on top of them now. I’ve instructed Regen to start at JFK. Also any open ground like parks, et cetera.”