But that wasn’t so easy for a man like me.
Galina studied me and waited for my answer.
At last, I shrugged. “Exactly what needs doing?”
She smiled then, and that smile was an evil thing to behold. I’d seen her make that kind of face before, and it would have given a lesser man a chill.
She had me, and we both knew it.
What exactly needed doing was something I’d done before but never enjoyed. I had to march down to fire control, brush aside the navy pukes and man the broadsides.
This time, it wasn’t just some solo cowboy horseshit. I had two stout men at my back. They were both noncoms from other units. I didn’t know them personally, but they had that grim-faced murdering look that so many veterans had in Legion Varus.
Why couldn’t Galina just order the strike herself? That should be obvious to anyone who was paying attention. If she fired Dominus’ big guns of her own volition, well sir, that would mean it was her fault that billions of credits worth of gear was destroyed and a third of her legion was exterminated like stray dogs in the street.
Brushing aside a load of cursing ensigns, I told the veterans to grip both trigger-handles at opposite sides of the control chamber, and we rolled down the big blast shields.
Outside the ship, sixteen cannons swiveled and locked onto the dome far below. You couldn’t even see it from up here, above the clouds, but some techs had done the math and given us the numbers to punch in. It was all a done deal.
“Fire on three, gentlemen. One… Two…”
There was a scuffle in the passages outside, and I glanced back, worried that something had gone wrong with this horrid plan. Just in case it had, I picked up the pace.
“Three!” I boomed out, and the whole ship bucked.
At least, that’s what it felt like. As if the deck had stood up and saluted our chins.
One of the veterans, the man to my left, managed to bean himself on the console. He slumped down onto the deck. He got up again, moaning. These guys weren’t trained to man the cannons and ride out the tremendous kick they gave your boots when you fired them.
The man to my right fared a little better. He’d gone to one knee, but he was still in the game. He struggled back up painfully. “Sorry sir, but I think I might have cracked something.”
“Ride it out, soldier. We’re pulling out of here.”
“Not so fast, McGill.”
The veteran who was in better shape whirled and brought his weapon up. That was a mistake, of course. A marine behind Galina gave him a few rounds. Falling back against the console, he clung to it for support.
Smiling, Galina walked into the room and surveyed the scene proudly. “James, you’ve done it again. This is gross insubordination.”
“That’s right, sir. It surely is.”
Both the men who’d accompanied me looked bewildered, shocked, and a little ashamed. Who knew what stories of glory they’d been filled with? I didn’t know, and I didn’t care.
I was, however, a mite pissed off. Galina hadn’t said anything about rushing in and arresting us instantly. She’d obviously been waiting for me to pull this stunt, so she could pull hers right after. That just didn’t sit right with me. She was going off-script—and she’d written it.
“Gentlemen, on my command,” I said loudly.
Galina swaggered into the room, barely looking at me. She was strutting happily.
“Fire!” I shouted without warning.
The two men were on their feet now. One was dying, the other had buckling knees, but they were trained professionals. They reached out as one, gripping the twin triggers, and they yanked them for a second time.
Outside the ship, the big guns spoke again. Sixteen more fusion warheads were sent hurtling down toward Green World. There were going to be some tidal waves after this, I was sure of that much.
When I’d given the order to fire the second time, Galina and her men were taken by surprise. They all aimed guns at me—but they weren’t braced for the kick.
This time, it was worse than before. Something kind of… exploded. I found out much later that firing fusion cannons twice with less than a minute between barrages was dangerous. You were supposed to allow some time for cooling down the big barrels.
In this case, two of the sixteen guns had exploded and pretty much broken off the ship. Even I was knocked to my knees in the resulting explosion. The others in the chamber were decked—some of them knocked unconscious.
Galina did a facer herself, but she wasn’t knocked out. She climbed to her feet angrily, hissing at me.
I reached out a long arm and helped her stand. That might have been a mistake on my part, or maybe she would have shot me anyway. I doubt I’ll ever get a straight answer out of her. She’s kind of touchy sometimes.
With a smoking pistol in her hand, she bared her fine white teeth at me from above. She looked like an angel peeking out from heaven—a mean one.
“James, why did you fire the cannons twice?”
Coughing up some blood and foam, I managed to answer. “Sorry sir. I just wanted to be sure.”
She nodded, and then she lifted her pistol to my forehead. “A good policy.”
The muzzle flashed as she shot me dead.
-53-
Stuff happened while I was dead. Big stuff that I learned about later.
First off, Dominus ran from the Skay border guards after we’d blown up the island we’d been squatting on. It wasn’t a proud moment for Legion Varus, but there wasn’t much choice. Something like fifty mini-Skay were pursuing us, and although they weren’t
