'Firing squad… squad, atten… shun!'
In unison the squad came to attention.
'Shoulder arms!'
The seconds dragged past, and then Sasaki and his marine escort appeared, two with their hands under Sasaki's armpits while he walked unsteadily toward the waiting post. A brief flurry of activity, and Sasaki was ready, bound in place, blindfold and small white marker positioned over his heart. Michael, sickened by the ritual, tuned out while the provost marshal read the orders convening the execution before turning and marching over to where Michael waited.
'Carry on, Lieutenant,' the provost marshal said.
'Sir!' Michael barked, his heart now battering at his ribs. 'Firing squad… port arms… present… aim… fire!'
The flat crack of assault rifles shattered the silence. 'Shoulder arms!' Michael barked. Turning, his eyes locked on a point three meters up the cave wall, Michael marched over to where the body of what had once been Leading Spacer Sasaki hung, an awkward shape slumped to the right against the ropes binding him to the post. Please be dead, Michael prayed when he reached Sasaki and the NRA doctor joined him. The prospect of having to unholster his pistol to finish the job was too much to bear. Sickened by the clinical brutality of the process, he waited while the man checked Sasaki.
'Dead,' the doctor said.
Michael nodded. Turning, he marched back to the firing squad.
'Squad! Shoulder arms, fall out!'
It was over, the cave filling with the muted hum of soft conversation. Anna broke away from the throng to make her way across to him. 'You okay, spacer?'
'Yeah. I know it needed to be done, and I know why… but still.'
'You listen to me, Michael Helfort,' Anna said. 'Yes, it was horrible, but that's just the way it is. We're fighting a war, and that treacherous dirtbag'-she flicked a thumb over her shoulder at the NRA recycling party bundling Sasaki into a body bag-'wouldn't have broken a sweat if the Hammers had killed every last one of us. So come on.'
'I know, I know,' Michael said, 'but-'
'But nothing,' Anna snapped. 'Enough! So,' she said, her voice softening, 'what time are you due back on duty?'
'Umm, let me see… yes, 12:00 for the Operation Pendulum planning meeting. I'm free till then.'
'I'm not due back on watch until 18:00, so follow me.'
'Okay,' Michael said. He followed Anna out of the cave. He had no idea where she was off to, and Anna was not going to tell him, so he fell in behind her.
Without neuronics to keep track, Michael would have been lost, a tortuous succession of twists and turns taking them away from the always-busy caves that made up this sector. He hoped Anna knew what she was doing. They had not seen anyone for a good ten minutes, and he needed no reminding that they were a long way from help if something went wrong. More than a few NRA troopers had died in these caves, lost in the labyrinthine nightmare that infested the Branxtons' karst.
To his relief, the absolute blackness of the tunnel ahead started to shade into gray and then white, the change almost imperceptible. 'Where the hell are we, Anna?'
'Hold your horses, spacer,' she said as she scrambled over a pile of broken rock. Resigned, Michael followed her to find himself on a narrow terrace of rock, protected overhead by a massive jutting slab of limestone, the cliff wall dropping sheer into the forested valley below.
'Wah!' Michael whispered when he looked out across the forest canopy, a turbulent, chaotic ocean of green stretching more than a kilometer to the other side of the valley, where a wall of rock rose sheer for hundreds of meters. 'What a view. Are we safe here?'
'Relax, Michael. Yes, we are. It's a designated R amp;R location. Didn't you see the marker on the way in?'
'Marker? What marker?'
'The 'do not disturb' marker, you idiot.'
'Oh,' Michael said feebly. He slid to the ground alongside Anna, slipping his hand into hers and squeezing hard. The silence that followed was a long one, and Michael was happy enough to sit and stare out into the void at trees splashed golden by the early-morning sun. If there was any way to get off this planet, he decided, he would take it. It was time to put him and Anna first. He did not care where in humanspace they ended up provided that it was nowhere near the damned Hammers, or the Feds, come to that. He struggled to work out who was the more pissed at him, then gave up, unable to choose.
'Better?' Anna murmured.
'Yeah. I'll be glad when this is all over. I feel like our lives are being lived for us, like we're not in control. I want to live my life my way.'
'I feel a bit the same. Sort of trapped.'
'So are we here,' Michael said, shooting Anna his most winning smile, 'for you know?'
'Bugger off, Michael' Anna said with an indignant frown. 'No, we are not. We're here because I've get something to tell you. Well, two things.'
'You're not ditching me again, are you?'
'Stupid boy! No.'
'So what?'
Michael heart sank when he saw Anna take in a deep breath, her hands clenching into tight fists. He knew the signs.
'I'm joining the NRA's 120th Regiment,' she said. 'Lieutenant Kallewi and his marines are doing the same thing, so rather than sit around wasting my time doing shitty little jobs for FLTDETCOMM, I've joined the NRA.'
Michael stared at her. 'You what?' he spluttered. 'Joined up? Are you mad? Anna, please!'
'Don't you Anna me, you bastard,' she hissed. 'We can't sit around while the NRA does all the fighting. You want this war over? Well, that means we all have to fight, so that's what I'm doing. You'll be flying Widowmaker; I'll be shooting Hammers. No'-her hand went up, and Michael's protest died stillborn-'I've made my decision, Adrissa's okayed the transfer, so that's that.'
'Don't you think you should have talked to me first?' Michael asked a touch plaintively. If he had learned anything about Anna, it was the utter futility of trying to change her mind when she decided to do what she believed was right.
'Talk to you first? Why?' she said, shaking her head, baffled. 'For chrissakes, Michael, why would I do that? All you'd have done is try to talk me out of it, I'd have insisted, we'd have had a massive fight, back and forth until you gave up and saw things my way. Trust me, this is much easier.'
Michael grunted, disappointed and scared at the same time.
'Michael,' Anna said softly, 'I have to do what's right. If I've learned anything from you, it's that. So get over it. I'm joining the 120th, okay?'
'Okay,' Michael said woodenly, a mass of despair.
'Good,' Anna said, mouth opening wide into a cheerful grin, 'but there's one more thing.'
Michael rolled his eyes in despair. 'I can't take much more of this, Anna. What? A one-woman suicide mission to assassinate Chief Councillor Polk? What?'
'Now you're being stupid,' Anna said. 'No, remember when we snatched some leave and went to Neu Kelheim? Just before we were deployed to Salvation?'
Michael nodded. He would never forget; it was the last time he and Anna had been truly happy together. 'Yup,' he said.
'You asked me to marry you.'
'Yes,' Michael said glumly. 'I remember. You said wait until the war's over, as you do every time.'
'Well, I've changed my mind. I want-'
'Whoa!' Michael said, sitting bolt upright. 'Hold on one second. What are you saying?'
'Yes, you dimwit. I am saying yes. A bit late, but yes. Yes!'
Michael shook his head in confusion; Anna's effortless ability to change the subject was breathtaking. 'Yes?' he said. 'You mean, yes, let's get married?'
'Yes, Michael. Yes, let's get married. Screw this damn war; the way things are going, it could go on forever. If
