March of the Legion

'Thinker…'

'Don't talk! I'm right here! You're all right—stay awake!'

'…hurts…'

'Gimme that medpack!'

A hand on my arm. It was Merlin. 'She's had a charge, Thinker. No more!'

'You stay awake, Priestess!'

'Faster! Have you got the zero?'

'Got it, got it!'

'No response!' A muffled scream from Valkyrie. She hit the charge again, again, again. 'Please…please… please…' It was Coolhand they were working on, I slowly realized. I watched, stunned. It was like a fever dream, and Dragon and Valkyrie were armored demons hovering over one of their own, the A-suit still glowing, scarlet blood bubbling.

'No response.'

'No! No! No! No!' Valkyrie continued triggering the biotic charger. Coolhand's blood splattered all over his A- suit, but he was not there any more. He had joined the phantom army, the Legion of the Dead. I turned my head away.

He had been my first friend in the Legion. I could not believe it. I simply could not grasp it. It was a mistake. Surely it was a mistake.

The humanoid still had Tara in his arms. She was gasping. I moved over to her in a trance, and opened my medkit. I pressed a biomag onto one arm and triggered it.

The creature did not object. Tara stirred, and her eyes fluttered open. She looked so fragile, like a lost child.

'Wester…' she whispered, '…it's you.'

'Yes, Tara—it's me. Don't try to talk—you'll be all right.'

'You're wounded.'

'It's nothing.' It's only my heart, I thought, and my soul.

'I came for you, Wester.'

'I know you did.'

'I'm sorry, Wester—I'm sorry!' There were tears in Tara's eyes. The humanoid put his ugly face right next to Tara's—he was giving her a big, wet kiss. He was beaming.

'Gildron!' Tara flashed a beautiful smile. She was coming around. 'Gildron, you're all right!' The creature was whimpering and drooling.

'We're closing on that beacon,' Whit said. We were out of the forest. The sky was dark and cloudy— raindrops spattered against the plex.

'Faster!' Millina urged. 'That aircar will be on us soon.'

'Again! Again! Biotic charge!' Valkyrie and Dragon and Merlin and Psycho were struggling over Sassin's bloody form. He was slipping away, fading away, and all the magtech wonders of the Legion could not bring him back.

'He's gone!'

'Keep trying! Keep trying!' Valkyrie was in tears, hysterical, banging away with the charger. They had a breather in his mouth and the charger had ahold of his heart, and his lungs were still going, but it was hopeless. The life signs were all flat.

'Negative life.'

'No! No! No! Keep trying!' Smoke was rising from Sassin's scorched flesh.

'Valkyrie—he's gone. He's gone. Valkyrie, please.' Merlin gently pulled Valkyrie away from the body. Her armored hands were scarlet with blood.

And Sassin the Assassin, Gamma Seven, was at last, truly, immortal. I was so stunned I could only lie there, sprawled on the deck between Priestess and Tara, ice cold flashes rippling over my flesh inside the A-suit, waiting, under siege, for whatever was to come next.

'Badass, Badboy. Respond!' Dragon was in the cockpit now between Whit and Millina, calling Redhawk. We were out of the forest. A road flashed past below, then grasslands, then a series of forested ridges.

'Badboy, Badass! Am I glad to hear your voice! Get me outta here!' He was right up ahead. The forest was burning, strewn with wreckage. A greasy cloud of black smoke shot past us. Then we spotted Beta Ten, hobbling out of the woods in a scorched A-suit.

'Enemy aircar heading this way!'

'Oh no—hurry!' The door popped open as we hovered in a whirling cloud of smoke and leaves. Dragon and Merlin hauled Redhawk in. He collapsed on the deck.

'Get out of here!' The door slammed shut.

'Enemy aircar closing!' Redhawk scrambled to his feet and forced his way into the cockpit.

'Give me the controls!' he demanded. Millina relinquished the seat next to Whit. Redhawk punched the power and we were off in a dizzying arc, up, then down, the forest rushing at us, then whipping past as we proceeded at treetops back the way we had come.

'It's going the wrong way,' Whit objected, 'It's headed right for the DefCorps aircar!'

'I know,' Redhawk responded quietly. 'Where's the freakin' armament? Is that…'

'Yes, it's a DefCorps chainlink, but it's not going to shoot it out, is it? We've got to get out of here!'

'Somebody shut her down,' Redhawk requested, dropping the car below treetop level. A green blur flashed past all around us—my heart was in my mouth.

'Don't interfere,' Dragon cautioned Whit. 'Redhawk knows what he's doing.'

'If it knows what it's doing, how did it get shot down?' Whit asked shakily.

'There were four of them,' Redhawk retorted angrily. 'Now shut down.'

'DefCorps aircar closing!' the car warned.

'Come, you bitch,' Redhawk muttered. He snapped the controls up. We burst through the forest roof up into the clear; rainclouds close above.

'We are on a collision course!' The aircar called out.

I had seen Redhawk do this before, and I never liked it. The enemy aircar glowed on the screen.

'Come to Daddy, come, you bitch.'

'Chainlink functional—lockon! Enemy has locked on!'

'Missiles! Ignition!' Redhawk squeezed the trigger. A sharp burst, then we made a ninety degree turn and I almost blacked out and suddenly we were back in the forest, back in the shadows, trees flashing past, a luminous green roof flickering overhead. Redhawk released deceptors behind us.

I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth—how in the world did he do it? A series of explosions reached our ears, shockwaves shaking the car. The scope was littered with junk.

'Direct hit, gang.' Redhawk pulled the aircar brutally out of the forest, exploding through the treetops, rain hitting the plex.

'That was not bad,' Whit said quietly.

'I'm good in bed, too,' Redhawk replied.

'Head for the shuttle,' Dragon ordered. 'We've got to lift.'

'Highroad, Whit. How goes the loading?'

'We just finished.'

'Good! Prep for liftoff—we're on the way back. As soon as we dock, we want liftoff!'

'Got it, we're sealed already.'

'Any signs of trouble?'

'Negative.'

'Psycho, get back in position by the door,' Dragon ordered. We may have to shoot our way in.'

'We didn't know about this,' Millina said suddenly. 'There would be a very limited number of people who would be aware of it. Maybe only the bunch in those aircars. It could be that nobody in Mongera Port knows what it's all about. We might have no trouble at all.'

I picked up an E with my one good hand. Tara was conscious. Priestess breathed heavily, her eyes blinking. I struggled to a sitting position, facing the door. Psycho and Merlin were all set. Dragon was in the cockpit, watching