'Well, I'm happy to see them. I hope they're happy to see us. Why don't we go and find out what the NRA has to say for itself? When we know what they propose, I'll clear lower deck so I can talk to everyone. The troops need to know how we intend to play things.'
'Sir.'
Michael and Adrissa made their way to Hell Bent. Kallewi stood waiting for them; Michael was relieved when Kallewi snapped to attention as the captain approached. 'Lieutenant Kallewi, sir,' he said formally.
'Pleased to meet you, Lieutenant,' Adrissa said. 'I hear the NRA has arrived.'
'They have, sir. They're asking for Lieutenant Helfort.'
'I understand that, Lieutenant Kallewi,' Adrissa said, 'but just so's you know, from here on out we will do things by the book, follow the chain of command, all that boring Fleet Regulations stuff. Okay?' There was no mistaking the steel in Adrissa's voice.
Kallewi hesitated, but only until Michael caught his eye and nodded his approval. 'Yes, sir,' the marine said. 'Understood. Follow me, please.'
The group made its way up Hell Bent's ramp to where the NRA patrol waited. The troopers were a woeful sight: four men and two women dressed in combat overalls that had seen better days, hard faces tight with hunger and fatigue. But it was the eyes that caught Michael's attention-a blend of fear, suspicion, and hate-and their weapons: assault rifles shiny from months, maybe even years of hard use but clean and well cared for.
'Which one of you is Helfort?' one of the men said abruptly.
Okay, let's not waste time on the niceties, Michael thought. 'I am,' he said, stepping forward, 'and this is my boss, Captain Adrissa. You are?'
'Sergeant Farsi. General Vaas wants to see you.'
'Fine. Just me?'
'Bring who you like. Provided they can keep up, it doesn't matter. You have chromaflage capes?'
'We have.'
'Bring them, plus your personal weapons and food for a week. We leave in two hours.'
'Okay. We've got a few things to get done, but we'll be ready.'
'We'll wait for you down the ravine.'
'Hold on,' Michael said. 'Want some hot food? We've got enough to go around.'
Farsi paused to think about that for a moment. 'That would be good,' he said. His face softened; the tip of his tongue flicked out and across his lips. 'Really good.'
Michael grinned. 'Thought it might be. Follow me and I'll get you sorted.' He turned to Adrissa. 'Anything you need to ask, sir?'
'No. Get the sergeant and his team fed. I'll talk to everyone. Once that's done, we can go.'
'Sir.'
'… so, to sum up, you have two choices: stay part of FLTDETCOMM under my command or join the NRA and the Nationalists in whatever capacity best suits your talents. It's your choice, and you are free to decide what is in your own best interests. All I ask is that you make your minds up before I leave to talk to General Vaas if you can; it will help me tell him how many of you they can expect. When you've decided, let Lieutenant Commander Solanki know. That is all. Carry on, please.'
The assembled spacers and marines broke up into a milling mass. Trying not to think about Anna-she had made a point of avoiding him-Michael set off to get his gear together, his mind worrying away at the problem of just how the hell he might handle Vaas. One thing was for sure: Vaas was no-
'Michael?'
He turned. It was Anna. She gave nothing away, her face expressionless. 'Yes?'
'Can you talk?' she asked.
'Sure,' he said, eyes wary. 'Over here. What's up?'
'What's up?' she hissed, her face flushed and her eyes blazing with anger. 'What's up? Screw you, Michael Helfort, you sonofabitch. You know what's up!'
Michael shoved his hands palms out as if to keep Anna at bay. 'Anna, please,' he said. 'I know things aren't the best, but I just… I just hoped this was going to work out. What was I supposed to do? If I'd left you to Colonel Hartspring, you'd be dead inside a month, and it was never going to be an easy death.'
Anna's head slumped forward; face in her hands, her shoulders shook. She sobbed softly, so Michael did the sensible thing. Folding her in his arms, he held her tightly for a long time. Eventually, she pushed him back to look him right in the face, red-rimmed green eyes brimming with tears. 'Oh, shit,' she said, her voice breaking, wiping the tears away, 'it wasn't supposed to end up like this. This fucking war was supposed to be over when we destroyed the Hammer's antimatter plant, but it's not, and the way things are going, it never will be.'
'But Anna, you're safe,' Michael protested. 'I'm safe; we're together. What does anything else matter? It doesn't, Anna; nothing else matters. It's just us. Me and you, and the rest of humanspace can go fuck itself.'
Anna stared at him for an age. A smile flickered across her face, gone no sooner than it appeared. 'Michael Helfort, you are thick. Thick as pig shit, you know that?'
'What? Thick? Me?' Michael spluttered, utterly confused.
'Yes, thick… dumb, stupid, dopey, half-witted. I know it's just you and me. Why do you think I'm so upset?'
'I have no idea, Anna. Honestly.'
'Like you just said, dumbo. It's you and me, and the rest of humanspace can go fuck itself.'
'You mean that?' Michael said, trying not to let a rush of euphoria overwhelm him.
'Sure do, spacer,' she said. 'Now, even though the rest of humanspace should go screw itself, you have work to do.'
Michael's euphoria vanished. 'Ah, damn. Duty, duty, always duty. Yes, Captain Adrissa and I are off to see the Nationalists. Don't how long we'll be gone.'
'I'll be here when you get back, Michael,' Anna said softly. 'I'll be here.'
'Okay,' Farsi said, 'here are the rules, and they are not open for debate.'
Off to a promising start, Michael said to himself while the NRA sergeant looked at everyone in turn.
'Rule one,' Farsi continued. 'I'm in charge. Any time I'm not around, Corporal T'chavliki'-he pointed to a scrappy, underweight woman standing off to one side-'is the boss. What either one of us says goes. If one of you steps out of line, I'll blow your Kraa-damned head off. I don't have the time to argue.
'Rule two. For Kraa's sake, maintain chromaflage discipline, so capes on all the time. Since we laid our hands on Goombah shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles, those Hammer fuckpigs don't send drones across our patch like they used to, but they're around. So are the battlesats; if the cloud cover clears, their damn lasers will fry you in a heartbeat. They might even drop kinetics on us, so don't give them a target.
'Rule three. Keep up. If you can't keep up, tough. Make your way back here as best you can.
'Rule four. If you look like you're getting captured, kill as many of the Hammers as you can before you kill yourself. Trust me; you should never, ever allow yourself to be taken alive.'
Michael shivered, an image of Erwin Hartspring popping unbidden into his mind's eye, the black uniform and pale, washed-out eyes every bit as vivid as the last time he had seen the DocSec colonel.
'Rule five. There is no rule five, so that's it. Any questions?' Farsi looked around again. He nodded. 'Good. Let's go.'
Without another word, Farsi waved them to move out, a trooper and Farsi up front, Adrissa, Kallewi, and Michael behind them, with T'chavliki and the rest of the patrol bringing up the rear. Tuesday, September 18, 2401, UD Gwalia Planetary Ground Defense Force base, Commitment
Mouth open, Chief Councillor Polk gaped at the appalling sight sprawled out in front of him. Two weeks earlier, he had presided over a medals ceremony at this very base. It had been flawless. Air-superiority fighters and ground-attack fliers had been arrayed in precise lines, their crews and the base's support personnel drawn up immaculate in their dress blacks, hundreds upon hundreds of them, all proof positive that not every part of the Hammer Worlds was a corrupt, decaying farce.
Now the place was a wasteland, a blast-smashed expanse of ceramcrete littered with the shattered wrecks of fighters, the base's elaborate infrastructure reduced to blackened piles of rubble through which casualty recovery teams picked their way with painstaking care, a red flag appearing every time a new body was located. There were hundreds of red flags already, Polk noted, and the teams had covered only a fraction of the base.
