'ALERT! Aircar!' We froze, stunned.
'What the hell…'
'Silence!' Snow Leopard snapped.
'AIRCAR! Approaching from the… ALERT! MULTIPLE MISSILE TRACKS! RECOMMEND IMMEDIATE DISPERSAL!'
'Starburst!' Snow Leopard shouted. I ran for my life, blind and terrified, into the gently falling snow, my blood pumping ice cold adrenalin, my guts churning, boots slamming into the snow, gasping, the suit helping me, running like a great metal beast, every movement perfect. It was as if the A-suit was running by itself and I was trapped inside, a horrified spectator.
'I HAVE FIVE INCOMING—SIX INCOMING—DISPERSE! DISPERSE!' I was a great cenite running machine, arms and legs swinging in perfect unison, and if anything got in the way, it was going to be flattened. Run, Thinker, run! Run for your life! I ran like a metal god, I ran like I had never run before, without thought, without hope—I knew we were dead, and I was running right into Hell.
'Missiles are passing overhead. We are not targeted. Recommend dispersal cease.'
Passing overhead! Did I hear that right? I fell down to the snow, crashing onto my armored belly, and shakily brought my E to my shoulder. My whole body twitched in shock.
'Repeat, Sweety!'
'Missiles impacting!' The horizon lit up, glittering phospho green, trembling, then a horrible multiple electronic crack rumbled past us. A shock wave buffeted my faceplate, and the snow whirled around me. Yellow streaks shot skyward out there.
'ANTIMAT!' Sweety reported. 'The aircar has been targeted and destroyed. I detect no further missiles. I detect no further aircars. I detect no further activity.'
The horizon faded. I lay there gasping. The snow fell gently, covering my armor. I was too tired to consult my tacmod.
'Nobody move!' The transmission was shot through with static, but it was Snow Leopard all right. I forced myself to focus on the tacmap. What the hell had happened? What was an aircar doing way out here? Who would be stupid enough—or desperate enough—to try that? Well, whoever it was would not be telling. Antis! Deadman save us!
'I detect no further activity from the impact site.'
Another flash lit up the horizon, then a ripping explosion. Tracers twirled through the sky.
'That's ampaks going off,' somebody said.
'Beta, One, on me.' I got up shakily and made my way back to our One. The aircar had been approaching us from the northeast, I realized.
It took awhile before we were all back together again—we had done a good starburst. When we were all there, we stood in the snow quietly and listened to Snow Leopard.
'That was a Legion aircar,' he said quietly. 'The tacmod got that much before it went off scope.'
'A Legion aircar! You don't think it was Redhawk?'
'No—I don't. Redhawk is crazy, but he's not stupid. He'd come if we asked—but only if we asked. And we didn't ask.'
'That was suicide!' Dragon said. 'Why would anyone take an aircar this deep into the death zone?'
'I don't know,' Snow Leopard replied. 'But I don't like it. There is entirely too much activity in this area as far as I'm concerned. I want everyone to be one hundred percent alert at all times. Don't take anything for granted. If you spot anything unusual, report it to me at once.'
'He's going on,' Speedy said miserably. 'I don't believe it.' We ignored him.
'We continue the mission,' Snow Leopard said. 'Recon formation.' Continue the mission—right. We would continue the mission, I knew, until we were all dead.
###
'Look at that. Look at that.'
'Damn!'
'Easy—easy. Let's get a fix on it.' We crouched in the show, peering into the distance. It was a cold white afternoon under a sunless sky and everything was muffled and obscured by the gently falling snow. There was more airsat out there, right in our path. Sweety was trying to color it on my faceplate but all she could get was sparkling fragments.
'Breeze is from the northwest.'
'That could be good or bad. Depends on how big it is.'
Suddenly the airsat burst into view on my faceplate, a mass of pale pink air, drifting slowly past us. The tacmap showed the extent and highlighted the wind direction.
'All right!'
'North!' Snow Leopard commanded. 'We move north—now!' We hustled, keeping the airsat in sight to our left. It was still snowing, and the tacmod was almost useless. The Legion had seeded the clouds with deceptors, we knew. It was deceptor snow, I thought, Legion snow, to mask our approach.
'ALERT! SOILSAT! I detect pressure thermodetonators ahead! Recommend immediate halt!'
'Oh, scut!'
'Soilsat! What the hell is next?'
'Squad halt! Keep an eye on the airsat, Eleven.'
'Tenners.' Soilsat! The very soil was saturated with explosives. It would blow your legs right off, and there was nothing at all you could do except avoid it. Sweety lit it up in an icy phospho blue. It contrasted nicely with the pink of the airsat.
'We're all right with the airsat so far,' Valkyrie reported.
'I get the impression they don't want anybody approaching their mound,' Dragon commented dryly.
'The soilsat bars the way west,' Snow Leopard said. 'We keep walking north, mapping the extent.'
'Let me guess,' Speedy said. 'We continue the mission.'
'You're getting the idea,' Snow Leopard replied.
'Transmission on Nova channel,' Sweety reported briskly. 'I am repeating and amplifying.' We froze and listened.
It was a roaring, spattering hiss, shot through with deceptors, but it was there, on the very edge of our hearing.
'…Nova! Nova!…' A voice from a pit of despair.
'…seriously wounded…mission has been…' An overwhelming rush of static. '…evac…repeat, Nova! Nova! Any Legion unit…'
'Let's go!' Dragon said.
'Silence!' Snow Leopard snapped. 'Silence in the ranks!'
The transmission continued, hissing and snapping, a full-power nova, fighting the deceptors.
'…Nova! Nova! Nova! Blue Gold hit, requesting…' Static, overwhelming static.
'What are we waiting for, One?' I asked. It was a nova—a Legion unit needed help. Nothing took priority over that.
'Silence! I said silence!' I shut down. I didn't see the problem.
The transmission faded, wavered, then came back, faintly.
'…Jade, Black Jade, your…' More static. '…repeat, your mission has been cancelled. Black Jade, abort mission!' They were calling us!
Static, rushing in our ears. Then suddenly it rang out as clear as a bell. '…Black Jade, we need help! Blue Gold to Black Jade, Nova! Your mission has been cancelled…Nova! Nova!…' It faded out. We waited, horrified, the snow swirling all around us, waiting for our One to give the word. But there were no more transmissions from Blue Gold.
'We continue the mission,' Snow Leopard said quietly. 'Recon formation.' The tacnet erupted immediately, everyone talking at once.
'Are you serious? That's a nova!'
'We can't ignore a nova!'
'They said the mission was cancelled,' Speedy objected. 'You heard them! Cancelled!'
