'Are you in good physical shape?' Snow Leopard asked.
'Yes. I am.'
'Ever wear an A-suit?'
'I've worn Legion and Systie armor.'
'Good. Now how about your friend—what's his name?'
'Gildron.'
'What can he do?'
'He's strong—and faithful. He'll do whatever I ask.'
'Why is he here? I can hardly believe they gave him orders.'
'They gave him orders because I insisted on it. When they told me I was to link up with your squad, I decided I wanted him with me.'
'You insisted on it.' Snow Leopard just stared at her. It did not add up.
'That's right.' Tara stared back.
Snow Leopard looked at her for a long time, then shifted his glance to Gildron. 'He'll be a liability.'
'He'll be an asset!'
'They don't make A-suits that big. And he'll need an A-suit where we're going.'
'You'll find him useful—with or without an A-suit.'
Snow Leopard stared at the man-ape thoughtfully.
'All right,' Snow Leopard said. 'But he is to obey my commands—not yours. And if he causes the slightest problem, we leave him behind. And if you object to that, we leave you behind. Understand?'
'Understood,' Tara said. 'He won't give you any trouble. He's quiet, and strong. You'll like him.' Gildron suddenly reached out an arm and put a massive hand on Snow Leopard's shoulder, staring at him intently.
'See?' Tara smiled in delight. 'He likes you! Good, Gildron, good!'
'Kangju,' Gildron said. I swear, he almost smiled.
'Fine,' Snow Leopard said. 'All right—squad meeting!' He shouted it. The others drifted over. Everyone was bundled up in camfaxed coldcoats.
'How did it go, guys?' Valkyrie asked. I had almost forgotten her cold, unearthly beauty—hair of spun gold, enchanting emerald eyes. My heart still speeded up whenever she came close to me. Once she had been all I wanted from life. But that was over now.
'Katag? Nothing to it,' Dragon responded. I looked over at him. Merlin laughed.
'Thinker doesn't seem to share your opinion, Dragon,' Merlin said.
'How was it, Priestess?' Scrapper asked.
'We're back,' Priestess said. 'That's what's important.'
'Missed you, Priestess,' Psycho said brightly.
'All right, listen up,' Snow Leopard said. 'This is Cinta—and Gildron. They are to accompany us on the mission. Most of you remember them from Mongera. They're not formally part of the squad, but for all practical purposes they're your squadies. Get to know them. The big guy doesn't talk much. I understand he's got a good heart, but a bad temper—so don't give him any grief, Psycho.'
'Would I do that?'
'It's your funeral. Thinker, Dragon, Priestess, we've got two new bodies. We didn't know if you'd be returning or not. We're one over strength now you're back. Three over, if we count Cinta and Gildron. Beta Thirteen—Twister, and Beta Fourteen—Speedy, these are our missing squadies, Three, Eight and Nine. You'll learn the warnames soon enough.'
They nodded at us, uneasily. Beta Thirteen, Twister, was a tall, gangling, awkward colt of a girl, with curly dark red hair and a face full of freckles. A schoolgirl, dressed in camfax. Terrific. Beta Fourteen, Speedy, was a pale, intense young trooper with dark hair and watery brown eyes. It was hard, accepting new people into the squad. It meant that the old people were gone, forever—Coolhand and Warhound and Ironman. They were tiny faces on my knuckles, and phantoms in my mind. How could we not resent replacements for our dead?
'Hi,' I said. 'Welcome. It's a good squad.'
'You'll like it,' Dragon said.
'It's our home,' Priestess added, 'and it's good to be back.'
'All right, that's it. Get the car loaded,' Snow Leopard said. The squad broke up slowly. Dragon stayed beside me.
'Another female,' he said quietly. 'That makes four. Five, if you count Cinta. They may as well call this the mammary squad.'
'Come on, Dragon, you love 'em.'
'Yeah, it's the latest concept—they want us to be able to reproduce ourselves, instead of asking for replacements.'
'You'll get over it.'
'I doubt it. Let's check out these new people. Do you think that girl is brain-damaged?'
'Merlin—come here,' I said.
'Thinker, what's the sit?' Merlin seemed completely happy. He had made his decision, just as we all had, throwing it all away for the Legion. But Merlin had thrown away a lot more than we had. He might have been a brilliant scientist, but now he was just a hired gun.
'What's your informed scientific opinion on this new body, the male, Fourteen—what's his name— Speedy?'
'He seems fairly stable, Thinker. Looks to be a dependable type, from what I've seen so far.'
'How about the girl?'
'Kind of nervous. Maybe a little shaky. Sort of like I used to be.'
'Used to be?' I laughed. 'All right, Merlin, used to be.'
###
'Just stay there, I'll be right back.' Snow Leopard had to see somebody about our mission. We were at Recon Control, a squadmod just off one of the main corridors of the milbase. It was cool and clean inside. Scores of troopers sat before comscreens whispering into their mikes or silently monitoring the activity. A large wall screen showed the Legion offensive already underway, and it was sparkling with antis and tacstars. Another large screen showed the recon missions, all deep inside Omni-occupied territory.
'Good duty here,' Valkyrie said, 'you don't even get your boots dirty.'
'I know this work,' Merlin said. 'You sip dox and offer advice to people who are dying. It's nice work if you like it.' Snow Leopard was talking with an officer at the command desk, determining our fate.
'Scope out that opmap, guys,' I said. 'See if you can find Corin.' Corin was our jump-off point, a city that had been in the path of the Omni advance. Now it was in the path of the Legion advance, and the future did not look good for that particular city.
'Look at all those units!' Merlin exclaimed. 'Those are regiments of the Twenty-Second—look! The Tenth, the Twelfth, the Sixty-Eighth, the Fifty-First! Deadman!'
'Corin is over there,' Valkyrie pointed. 'On the left, by that river.' I could see it—our own regiment, the 12th, was closing on it. Antimats winked and faded on the screen.
'Do you think we'll win?' Valkyrie asked, gazing blankly at the screens.
'We're ready for them,' Merlin said confidently. 'I don't see how they can counter the new generation of weapons, weapons designed specifically to kill O's. The O's are very powerful because of their psypower. But they're slow to change. We can counter the psypower now. And look at their tactics—they don't have any! They've never had tactics! It's just individual O's, wandering around killing anything that moves.'
'I've never understood that.'
'Don't feel alone. I tell you, if the O's ever really get organized, we'll be in terminal trouble!'
'Control, our mission has been compromised!' A voice crackled with static from a nearby console.
'Red Opal, Control—please provide details.' The Mission Coordinator hunched over the d-screen. He looked like a brand new recruit.
There was silence from the console. The trooper entered some data into the system.
'We're under attack!' The console crackled again. I could hear the shriek of tacstars in the background.
'Red Opal, Control. Do you require extraction?' There was no response. Only silence, from Red Opal.
