28

“Only if you’re attacked.”

“I know, I know, Rev. I’ve got this.”

He looked to where the shuttle was waiting. The last of the civilians and sailors were loading, and he’d have to board within a few minutes. Overhead, Nissen and the Charon were making lazy circles in the sky—just a reminder to the still-gathering Zfthu that while the shuttle might take off, the humans had not abandoned the planet.

“Kiss the girls for me,” Tomiko said.

“I will. But I won’t be gone long.”

“That depends, Rev. Norton owns the shuttles now. And the ship.”

With Nyad missing and presumed dead, Lieutenant Commander Norton was the new CO. Njuguna was doing slightly better, but she was still in shock, so it would really be up to Norton and Rev to determine what was next. But when it came down to it, Norton controlled the Galaxy Explorer.

“It’s time. I’ve gotta go,” he said, bending down to give his wife a kiss.

As he started to step off, though, Tomiko grabbed his arm.

“There’s one more thing. People are asking about Punch.”

Rev wasn’t sure what she was getting at. “Punch? If they’re wondering, he’s fine.”

“No. They’re asking about Punch. Not Punt Six.”

That stopped him. “Punch? Why?”

“Come on, Rev. You went running across the courtyard screaming his name before you two hugged like long-lost brothers. We might be a bunch of dumb grunts, but we’re not that dumb.”

Rev stood there for a moment as his mind raced through the ramifications. Of course, all of the Marines knew his battle buddy’s name. He was the sergeant major. “What are you saying to the questions?”

“Nothing yet. But I . . . you can’t ignore it for long.”

“What’s the, you know, tone?”

Tomiko shrugged and said, “Not bad, to be honest. He did divert the yetis so you could get into the octagon, and then he comes back with Torry. The squids are being extremely protective of him.”

“What about him killing that yeti? Do they know that?”

“And we wiped out a couple of thousand of them.”

“But we’re not androids in an anti-Deimer society.”

“Everyone knows he killed, only by now, it’s grown to where he took on a battalion of them with one hand tied behind his back. And they admire it.”

Rev spotted Punch over at the far side of the courtyard, where he was standing with a handful of Marines. They looked like they were deep in a discussion. Both he and Punch knew who he was would eventually get out. But Rev had wanted to control the revelation.

But I guess it’s out now. They know.

And from the looks of it, it really didn’t matter, which was a relief. The secret had been gnawing at him long enough.

“I’ve gotta go, baby. We’ll handle Punch later. Just try not to confirm any suspicions until I get back.”

“Got it.”

Everyone was on board the shuttle by now, and Rev sprinted for the ramp. The sailors had saved a seat for him, and he plopped down in it and harnessed in. He gave the AI pilot the order to take off, and then, in the best tradition of soldiers since the dawn of time, he was asleep within a minute of the shuttle lifting off.

* * *

“I still don’t understand your reasoning for keeping the QRF on the planet,” Lieutenant Commander Norton said as they sat in the wardroom over cups of coffee.

The new CO hadn’t moved into Nyad’s stateroom, so the officers’ mess was as good a place as any to hold their meeting.

Getting off the shuttle, the stark gray bulkheads and harsh lights of the ship were depressing after the sunshine and open air of Tylydina. Rev had quickly checked in with Hvarser and the girls before tracking down Norton. And now, he hoped they could come up with a course of action.

“Not only the QRF. I want to bring all of the Marines down.”

“We’ve lost more than fifty of the crew down there to this war of theirs. Let’s leave them and get the hell out of here.”

“It’s not their war, sir. It was our presence that started it.”

“At the dragon’s invitation.”

“I told you. They said the attack was a surprise.”

“And you believe them?”

Rev had been mulling that over in his mind since he’d heard the claim. But when Norton asked, it gelled.

“Yes, I think I do.”

“OK, you do. That still doesn’t get around the fact that I’ve lost crew to the point that operating the ship is going to be a problem.”

That surprised Rev. “I thought the ship could be operated automatically.”

“Flown? Navigated through bubble space to a destination? Sure. But it takes a lot of manpower to keep the ship running. The AIs can run systems checks and even do self-repair to an extent. But it takes the crew for most of it. We were already below half-strength when the others left. Now, we’re not even at a third-strength.”

Norton rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. He looked ragged, and Rev realized the man had to be under a load.

“Do you know that both airgen techs were at that stupid party? Neither of them made it. I can try and cross-train someone else, but they really need the school at Dennison.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“So, you can see that given the circumstances, I’m not too keen on the idea of putting anyone else at risk here.”

“I don’t think there is much of a risk, and to be honest, I think we’ve got some responsibility here. Whether we intended it or not, our mere presence was an intervention. And why are we even here? You can say it’s to uncover threats to humankind, but we know better. We’re here to find planets for the folks back home to exploit.”

Norton didn’t argue the fact. But he wasn’t convinced.

“Look, sir. I’m not saying we stay here forever. Given the losses, won’t it take you some time to reorganize? And you have to train new airgen techs, right?”

Norton just stared at Rev. Since he hadn’t said no, Rev took that as a confirmation.

“What I want to do—what I think we have to do on moral grounds is to stay until the situation calms down.”

“You said there are sixty thousand yetis. What can your handful of Marines do when they decide to attack?”

“I don’t think they will. Our mere presence would be the deterrence. Us and the Charon. Look, sir. We killed a shitload of them. Maybe a couple of thousand. And we didn’t lose a single Marine.”

“You lost fifty-eight sailors, damn it. Sailors don’t count?”

Fire flashed from his eyes.

“No, no, sir. That’s not what I meant. Our sailors died, yes, but because they aren’t PAL-suited Marines. They’re not trained to fight. But the yetis saw the Marines that killed them. And they saw the Charon. They’re not stupid.

“I think if we have a visible presence, both Marines and Charon, then the yetis won’t attack. And that will give the dragons the chance to negotiate and get back to the agreement they had before.”

“And if they do attack?” Norton asked.

“Then we kill them. The dragons might not kill anything, but the castle is a fortress. And as long as we have ammunition and power, I don’t think they can breach the walls, not if every yeti on the planet tried.”

“And I guess you’re saying that if you’re not there, first, the yetis will attack, and second, they’ll get in,” Norton said.

“Yes, sir. I am.”

Norton stared at his coffee as if trying to divine the right answer.

“You’re right in that I won’t feel comfortable departing for a month at least, not with the reorganization that’s needed,” the new CO said. “I’ll agree to give you Marines that long then.”

“And Nissen?”

“Nissen, too. I’ll even send down a tech for maintenance on the Charon, so he doesn’t have to return here.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“But if the dragons and yetis can’t get their shit together in that time, then that’s their problem.”

“Agreed.”

“When are you leaving to go back down?”

“I’ve got Top getting the rest of the Marines ready. I need to figure out the baby situation, and, to be honest, I might grab a few meals. The combat rats are getting really old. Say, ten hours?”

Norton nodded. “OK, I’ll let Chief Sanders know.”

He paused, then added, “You probably haven’t heard yet, but things are falling apart back home. The war isn’t going well. It’s going bad, in fact. And we’ve reinstituted the War Appropriations Act.”

“You’ve got to be shitting me,” Rev said in astounded shock.

Norton shook his head. “I wish I was.”

Over four hundred years ago, during the Rigel War, the beleaguered Perseus Union government implemented the War Appropriations Act, a tremendously unpopular curtailing of civil rights. In many ways, it was oppression of the citizenry.

The act almost caused the collapse of the Union, it was so bad. And if the directorate just brought it back, well, things were worse than Rev could have imagined.

“Is it the same as before,” he asked.

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen the actual wording. But it isn’t good.”

“Maybe it’s good that we’re out here,” Rev said.

“I have to admit, that same thought has crossed my mind.”

Rev sat there for a moment, then drained his cup. “I’ve got a lot to get done, sir, so I’m gonna run. We’ll get through this, though. All of it. We really don’t have much of a choice.”

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