Ifany enemies were still out there, hiding among the wreckedfreighters, the Shamash would be easily spotted.
Lunaain’t paying me to sit around and wonder about stuff,he thought. “Signal the Shamash.She’s to stay here, out of sight, while we drop in for a closerlook.”
“Helm,”he ordered over the background noise of the comms officer passingorders to the freighter, “takeus down-system to Ragnarok, bow on to the local star. Three quartersmax pitch.”
“Aye,sir,” the helmsman confirmed. “Down-sys to Ragnarok, bow on tostar, three quarters max pitch.”
Withoutthe Shamash to hidebehind them, they could present a smaller cross-section to the localstar. That would reduce the load on the cryo-banks by… He checkedthe ‘dashboard’ on his holo. Seventeen percent.
Itwould give him a lot more time to stay stealthy before he’d have tostart venting heat, which most Quailu ships searched for as astandard operating procedure.
Thiswas a lot more adventure than he’d bargained for when Luna hadtalked him into leaving his early retirement. This was nothing likethe bump and grind between the countries of Earth.
He’dtried to beat his sword into a plowshare but he was shit at farming.Luna had offered him his own ship and, now, here he was, trying todefend folks who actually knewhow to farm.
Unlessthey’re all dead, he thoughtdarkly. Folks out here seem to just do whatever the hellthey think they can get away with.
“Orbitalsare a mess,” Ops warned, “but there’s no drive signatures ofany kind in evidence. If there’s anybody out there, they’rebetter than us at hiding.”
“Verywell, Grocholski,” Max acknowledged. “You have the conn. I’mgoing down to the surface with the troops.”
Heleft the bridge and headed for the shuttle bay. The team was alreadythere, checking their weapons and equipment, probably not for thefirst time. A young former Marine major looked up with surprise and,most likely, a little annoyance at seeing his captain arrive with anassault weapon in his hands.
“Thisis still your show, Goodwin. I’m just gonna fly cover.” He wavedat one of the three fighters crouched at the back of the bay.
“Justflying cover…,” Goodwin repeated flatly.
Maxgrinned. “If you give the all-clear and it turns into a diplomaticsituation, I’ll step in and handle the handshakes.”
Thebackground engine-whine lowered a few tones.
“Fairenough, sir,” Goodwin saidgrudgingly. “Might be nice to have air support while we sort outwhat’s happening down there.”
Maxgrinned. He was sharp enough to know when an expert was telling himto keep out of his way.
“Soundslike we’re spooling down the engines for approach.” Heturned for his fighter. “I’ll see you out there, Major.”
Nowthat the Tulwarhad slowed to approach speed, it was only sensible to launch thelander from the ship and fly the rest of the way separately. If asneaky missile attack were attempted against the corvette, therewould be little sense in Goodwin’s troops being aboard, not whenthey had a perfectly good lander available.
Therewas no missile attack but there were forces sneaking around in orbit.Not five minutes after Max followed the Marines out of the ship, awarbling tone told him he’d flown straight into a trap.
Hestrained his legand abdominal muscles,breathingrapidlyas he threw his fighter into a nearly impossible turn. TheAnti G Strain Maneuver was so ingrained in him that he didn’t evenrealize he was doing it for no reason. Some pilots had managed tokick the habit but he’d had little time in these new fighters.
Heacquired a target and slid his finger to the trigger before realizinghe’d found his target by spotting the occluded stars. He eased upthe pressure on the trigger just as the challenge blared in his ears.
Humans.They were patrolling out here, which he took to be a good sign.
Theysorted out identities and the Tulwar entered orbit while Maxand his Marines were escorted down to a landing zone that was nearUnity but not so near that he could have broken away from the escortand done much damage.
Heclimbed down from the fighter to find a sizable armed presence fromthe garrison waiting for him. Goodwin’s lander had been turned backwhen the colonists discovered it carried armed troops.
“Whatthe hell is going on here?” he demanded of the garrison officer incharge. “We’re Humans, just like you!” He looked up as thelander ascended, still carrying its Marines and followed closely bytwo fighters.
“Imust ask you for patience, Captain,”the officer said with polite firmness.
Patiencewas not just being requested here. Max could tell he’d be missingsome teeth soon, if he didn’t play by their rules. “We’reHumans,” he reiterated, “who came here in a Human corvette.”
“We’vehad to deal with traitors,” the officer told him. “I’m sureyour scans will have told you there’s a corvette crashed less thanthirty kilo-cubits from where we stand.
“Shewas crewed by Humans as well and they were a part of the attack onthis colony. Theykidnapped LadyGabriella so Memnon could dig out her knowledge of our defenses.”
“Gabriella?”Max took an involuntary step forward and froze. The garrison forcesall brought their weapons up in response to his unexpected motion andthe officer…
Hewas just gone… Nope,Max thought, grimacing at the telltale click-whine of a sidearmbehind his head. He’sdefinitely not gone.
Thesewere some of Gleb’s hardcore killers, the kind of troops that keptthe emperor himself up at night. The guy pointing the gun at his headcould do that mystical self-teleportation stuff.
Heheld up his hands. “We’re not traitors,” he said. “We were atHeliopolis when Eth told me to commandeer a freighter and come evacthe colony.”
“Where’sthe freighter?”
“Gasgiant.” No need for more than that. This system only had the one.
Oneof the troopers in front of Max nodded at the officer behind him and…Max shivered. He was gone. He felt his sidearm slide out of hisholster.
“Alright,Captain Johnson, one more question from an old pal of yours.” Theofficer walked around to face him from the front again, his ownweapon holstered.
Hehefted Max’s pistol. “How did you get your callsign?”
Maxchuckled. “Let’s just say it wasn’t safe to use a showercubicle on the old Endeavoron TacoTuesday – not if I owed you one.”
Thegarrison officer nodded absently, clearly listening to someonetalking to him through his armor. He stepped forward and handed Maxhis pistol back.
“Lookslike you’re a welcome face, Captain! If you’ll come with us, hegestured to a large run-about.
Maxwalked alongside the officer. “You mentioned Gabriella,” Hesaid. “Is
