the inside wall, his weapon at the ready. The pounding reached the landing, and he heard, “Coming out. Don’t shoot us, Ray.”
He yelled, “Clear!” and waited for them to emerge. Waverly looked absolutely fine when he came into view, but Walters was not. His right arm, torso, and the side of his head looked like hamburger. Blood dripped onto the floor as he moved. Waverly looked briefly out windows of each wall, then moved to Walters and started cutting his uniform away.
“Eyes outside, Ray,” he ordered as he bandaged up Walters. “Sorry, Sergeant. No pain pills until we get our kits from the ship.”
“It’s okay, sir. I know I’m a mess, but I’m not out of action.”
Waverly finished with Walters, checked briefly out both windows, then went back to his position on the floor, his communicator to his mouth. Walters’ upper body was wrapped in his shirt, and a pant leg had been cut off and used to wrap his head, looped under his chin and tied on the top of his head. He sat with his back to the wall for a few moments, then dragged himself back to his feet.
“Take a break, Walters,” Trexler ordered.
“No, sir. Sitting doesn’t make it feel any better, and they’ll be back. I think they really want this building.”
“Walters, you do this out of choice?” he demanded.
“Well, sir, with all respect, it beats the heck out of being locked up in a tin can. I’ve never understood how you guys can stand it.”
Trexler kept his reply to himself and went back to peeking outside.
“The colonel says we’re secure for the moment, sir, but at this point, they’re likely to bring in snipers, so be careful. We’ll bandage you up as soon as our guys get here with our kits. I have to tell you, I feel naked without my vest and kit. It’ll be nice to have our regular earpieces and microphones back, too.”
“Bandage me up?” Trexler began feeling all over himself and discovered blood on the front of his shirt.
“Looks like you got hit with flying glass, sir. Pretty good gash on your jaw. And your foot… well, you might have a crushed toe or two. Those shoes aren’t nearly as good as combat boots.”
Trexler looked at his feet. A jagged piece of building was sticking out from the front of his right shoe.
He looked at Walters in amazement. “I didn’t even know.”
“That’s the way of it, sir. You’ll know when they take it out, though. It’s probably best to leave it alone right now. Your jaw is still bleeding, but not terribly. Since we don’t have our kits, It’s probably best to let it continue for a while – it’ll keep germs out until we can clean it up properly. Is this your first time?”
“First and last.”
“You’ve done well, sir. It’s been a pleasure working with you.”
“You, too, Sergeant. Let’s hope the pleasure continues for many more years.”
Walters nodded, his lips pursed in a tight grimace.
Lieutenant Stevens came strolling down the hallway with a sleeve of his shirt tied around his left leg. “You guys okay?” he asked.
“We are,” Walters answered. ‘How about you?”
“Everyone’s okay. What happened to you?”
“A grenade. The corner of the wall took most of the blast. What happened to your leg?”
Stevens grinned. “A puncture wound, nothing serious. And look! I got a souvenir!” He pulled a jagged piece of metal that resembled a thick, warped and twisted spatula from his pocket.
Trexler took it and studied it, then handed it back with a shake of his head. “I don’t have a clue what it is. Do you?”
Stevens’ eyes shone. “I think it’s a piece of one of those Chessori ships that blew up. Pretty neat, huh?”
A grin lit Trexler’s face. “That is truly a souvenir, Lieutenant. I almost envy you. Do you realize you’re probably the only man on all of Earth to own a piece of a Chessori ship?”
“Jeez, I hadn’t looked at it like that, sir. Uh, I don’t have to turn it in or anything, do I?”
“Definitely not, and that’s a promise. If anyone demands it from you, tell them to come see me. I’ll set them straight.”
“You can do that, sir?”
Trexler smiled and looked at Waverly. For once, Waverly, too, was smiling, and the communicator was silent.
“I guess we haven’t spent much time on chain of command lectures, Ray.” He lifted his eyes to Stevens. “He’s your boss, Lieutenant, and mine. He’s in charge of all Earth’s space forces, and his battle hasn’t even begun yet.”
“I have two tanks out here,” Walters called. “You’d better get back to your post, Lieutenant. They’ll probably be coming at the back, too.”
Stevens left, and Walters dragged the big gun into position. Trexler saw some thirty Chessori troops working their way toward the building.
“The tanks have stopped,” Walters announced. “They’re in range, but just barely.”
His big gun started firing, one shot after another without pause. Waverly pocketed his communicator, moved to a window farther down the side, and started firing. Trexler heard heavy firing from the back of the building as he lifted his communicator to his lips.
“Tom, we’re under attack again.”
“Okay, I’m already headed back. Thirty seconds, sir.”
The corner of the building started taking a beating, and suddenly the corner itself blew in. The blast threw Trexler back into a wall. When he picked himself up, Walters was doing the same. He didn’t see Waverly, but he felt completely exposed with the walls and part of the floor missing. The ceiling sagged down from above, and Trexler wondered if it would fall in on them.
Chessori troops, many of them, were rushing the building. Trexler found his weapon and lay prone near the edge. Waverly’s words came back to him, “Aim every shot.” He took his time and did so. Bolts from Chessori blasters impacted all around him and Walters.
A fighter flashed by, and the ground around the advancing Chessori troops erupted. Trexler couldn’t see any targets through the smoke and dust. He heard heavy firing from the rear of the building and guessed that the fighter was making a pass back there, as well. A Chessori trader came in from the right, but before it opened up, the front of it exploded. It crashed to the ground about three hundred meters away. The frigate made a tight turn and settled into position above the building. Its great guns opened up on the few remaining Chessori troops, and Trexler knew this wave had been repulsed.
His communicator was nowhere to be found, so he had no way of reaching the frigate. Walters was on his knees, heaving rubble aside. Lieutenant Stevens arrived on the run and started helping. Trexler joined in, and all three of them lifted a heavy piece of the wall and heaved it aside. Waverly’s body came into view.
Stevens knelt down beside him and felt for a pulse. “He’s alive, and he’s breathing.” He began a quick assessment, running his hands along Waverly’s torso, then his arms and legs. “Nothing obvious, but we’d better not move him.”
Suddenly, they were surrounded by Raiders, all wearing vests and kits. One immediately went to Waverly, set a large pack down, and leaned over him, beginning his own assessment.
Walters backed away and stood up to greet his friends. Another medic began unwrapping him. The medic studied the wounds, then took a magnifying glass from his pack and carefully examined Walter’s eyes. “Looks like one of those grenades found you. You’re done for this trip, Walters. Strip.”
“Hey, come on.”
“You know the drill. You probably have wounds you don’t even know about.”
Walters removed what was left of his trousers and stood in his skivvies while the medic checked him out. “Okay, close your eyes.” Walters stood while the medic sprayed him with copious amounts of something, then began winding gauze around his torso, then his arm. Trexler couldn’t believe how fast the man worked.
“You’d better check on the admiral, Fred.”
The medic glanced over his shoulder at Trexler sitting on the floor with his back to a wall. “He’s an admiral? You’d never know by looking at him.” Bandages went around Walters’ head, then the medic moved to Trexler while Walters pulled his pants back on.
