officers whispered something to the Second. Cubes nodded, and the man went away. Snow Leopard found a seat beside Lowdrop. He looked tense and alert. I was very uncomfortable being this close to Cubes, and I simply did not like Lowdrop. Cubes was a scary guy, but I respected him. My own experience with Lowdrop convinced me that his only concern was with the mission, and that all his assets were expendable.
A shrill whistle shot through the ship like a flicker of lightning. 'Antimat drive initiating!' The announcement echoed through the room. 'Prep for vac run red!' The ship shuddered, and lurched. My stomach swirled within me. We were underway. They were not wasting any time.
'Beta, Gamma, welcome.' Cubes spoke, his icy eyes flickering over us all. 'Have some dox. This is highly informal. Two Four and I wanted to brief you all personally on your mission. It's an important mission. It's a very important mission. A mission which we believe can best be accomplished by Two Four Beta and Gamma.'
The dox was good. Boudicca was sullen, staring into space. Valkyrie was beside her, cold and empty. I could still hardly believe she had burnt that Legion cross into her forehead. It was a sign of insanity. I knew she was lost to us all—not all of Gamma's fatalities died on Andrion 3.
'Beta and Gamma—especially Gamma—gave more than anyone could ever ask on Andrion 3,' Cubes said. 'Don't think we don't know it. I know every trooper in the Second. I knew all those who died. They weren't numbers to me. I see their faces every night. And a lot of others as well. Hundreds of them…' He faded for a moment, and a cold hush fell over the capmod. Then he resumed.
'The Legion knows you've given enough. But we're asking for more. As you know, the Systie frontier has collapsed under a massive assault from the Omnis. All of the Gassies worlds are falling, one by one. At latest count, nineteen inhabited Systie worlds have been over-run. And it's only the beginning. The Systies are paying for their legacy of treason to humanity. Unfortunately it's not as simple as that. We can't just laugh as the Systies get what's coming to them. Every new planet the O's seize is a direct threat to us. The Confederation has to get involved. The O's are a plague—a galactic disease—fatal to humanity—and we must exterminate them all. We must!' The Second's eyes blazed.
'We must—and so we're asking for more. More from Beta—and more from Gamma. Beta—are your troops ready for combat?'
'Yes sir,' Snow Leopard responded quickly. 'We're ready.'
'Any problems?'
'No sir!'
'Good. Gamma—how about you?'
She gave him a cold, dead stare. 'We're ready.'
'Gamma Two—how do you feel?'
'Will we be fighting the Omnis?' Valkyrie asked quietly. She was a pale angel, branded with the Legion cross. It was like a curse.
'That's a ten, trooper.'
'Good. I want to fight the O. I'm happy to hear it.'
Insane. My lovely girl was quite insane.
'Gamma Five—what do you say?' He was hitting every Gamma trooper. He must have been worried about them.
'It's fine with me,' Scrapper said quietly. 'I don't like the O's. Fighting them sounds good to me.' It was as if she had been asked whether she wanted her dox sweet or bitter. Scrapper had always been eminently sensible. Now even she sounded as if she had lost it.
'Seven? Any comments?'
'Why don't you just tell us the mission?' Sassin growled. 'There's nobody from Gamma going to walk out on the mission.'
Gamma Seven was more quiet and reserved than most professional assassins. I could hardly believe he had spoken to the Second that way. Cubes stared at him for just a frac, and then a slow, somewhat sad little smile appeared.
'Good.' Cubes said. 'Good. Lowdrop, you were right. Beta and Gamma can do it. Give them the briefing. Give them whatever they need. Beta—Gamma—may the Gods be with you.' Cubes got up and left the room, off to brief another unit.
I felt sorry for him; I'm not sure why. The man had simply seen too much. But I knew it was ourselves for whom I should really feel sorry.
'Right, troopers—listen up.' Lowdrop was always all business, harsh and demanding. 'This is your target— Mongera.' It appeared on a large wall screen, a pale blue world laced with soft white clouds, icy phospho polar caps glowing against the vac.
What a beautiful world, I thought.
'As you all know,' Lowdrop continued, 'we did a job on the O ships in the Andrion engagement, and we believe this was what prompted their retreat from Confederation vac and their subsequent attack on the Systies. We were pleased to discover that we are still technically superior to the O in ship-to-ship engagements. Otherwise we'd all be dead. Unfortunately we did not do that good on the ground. We took unacceptable casualties on Andrion 3. We have no counter to their psypower. Everywhere we met the O face to face, we lost. With one exception— Beta Two Four. Beta, you managed—somehow—to force an Omni to retreat. You've all been exhaustively debriefed on this, but the hard truth is we still don't understand what it is that caused that behavior on the part of the O. We have some ideas, however. Some good ideas. The purpose of your mission is to test these ideas. We want to duplicate the conditions you were facing on Andrion 3 and test our theories.'
'Test your theories.' Snow Leopard remarked coldly.
'That's correct. You'll be in a better position this time than last. You'll have some new weapons as well, weapons designed specifically to zero in on the O's weak link, and then exploit it. The tissue and blood samples you brought back from Andrion 3 were invaluable.'
I wondered if they were planning on issuing us new, improved cold knives. Duplicate the conditions! Terrific —as if once wasn't enough, now we're going to have to do it again! Only in the Legion. A wave of despair rolled over me.
'…on Mongera.' Lowdrop said. 'The sit is total chaos. The planet is heavily populated, the O put down a major expeditionary force, and the Systies have committed major fleet units. The engagement is still underway. However, it appears clear that the O are taking the planet. Most of the population is being slaughtered. The remainder are desperate to escape. The O are running around loose on the ground—no effective opposition. But we estimate it will be some time before they seize the port. It's perfect for our sit. You shouldn't have any trouble zeroing a single O to work on.'
We were all silent, listening to Lowdrop without comment. A single O to work on—right. Trouble is, he would probably object strenuously to our working on him.
'Beta One, you are in command of a reinforced squad for this mission, to consist of Beta at full strength and Gamma at current strength. Your call sign will be Badboy. Gamma One, you are to retain command of your element, but take your orders from Beta One. Beta, I'd suggest Beta Two take command of your second element as usual, but that's up to you. Your aircar driver will be Beta Ten.'
An almost audible sigh of relief rippled through Beta. Boudicca was not to command us—some good news at least! And Redhawk would be our air jock—couldn't complain on that!
'Badboy.' Psycho leaned over to me and whispered. 'Deadman! How do they come up with these names?'
The screen flashed. Mongera disappeared, replaced by a skeletal black city enveloped in flames, burning brightly under a glowing orange night sky.
'Century City,' Lowdrop said quietly. 'A few days ago it was a prosperous, modern settlement. Millions are now attempting to flee via the starport. The O are closing in. You will be dropped in here. Your mission is to kill an O—any O—survive, and return to tell us about it. If you get one it will be a first, and could change the outcome of the conflict.'
We thought about that. Heavy duty.
'Do you all understand the mission?'
'Does ConFree know about this mission?' Boudicca asked suddenly.
Lowdrop looked at her sharply. 'The highest levels of ConFree have been briefed on this mission.'
