37
“Look what the sons of bitches did. Fucking Marines,” the white-clad Roher tech told her co-worker. “This is going to take months to replace and get back online.”
Rev had just been released from the aid station and was trying to find his platoon, but he stopped dead. The complex was already swarming with Roher personnel, who had to have been waiting in orbit.
Just walk on.
But he couldn’t. “Whatever that was, it was destroyed by a tin-ass.”
The two turned around, and the woman gave Rev a withering glance.
“What are you talking about?”
“That’s beamer damage.” When they both looked at him with blank faces, he added, “Energy weapons. Which the Centaurs have, not the Marines.”
“You’re telling me that you Marines didn’t cause any of the damage around here.”
“No. But not that thing.”
“That thing is an MSC-346A, and it cost more than you’ll ever see in your lifetime.”
“I think you mean that ‘was’ an MSC-whatever. And you’re welcome for taking all of this back from the tin-asses. That cost a lot of lives. Better people than you’ll ever see in your lifetime.”
He spun on his heel and strode off. The woman started to make some retort, but the man pulled her back. Lucky for her. Rev was in no mood to put up with that crap, and he wasn’t sure how he’d react.
The image of Staff Sergeant Montez just disappearing into nothing was seared into his mind. She had known it would happen, but that hadn’t stopped her. She’d taken out the Centaur and saved most of her team.
Kel Dean-Ballester hadn’t made it into the hole and had died when the Centaur self-destructed. Tanu had been killed in the juncture, and Gunny Thapa had been medivaced off planet already, his condition unknown.
Half of the team was lost, and that . . . that leech was bitching because some of her precious machinery was destroyed?
Rev had gotten bits and pieces of what had happened while he was in the aid station. Casualties had been high, even if slightly lower than expected. But lower than expected didn’t matter on a personal level when it was your friends who were killed. For them, and for their families, the casualty rate was effectively one hundred percent.
As far as his crew, Udu had made it, and she told him so had Fyr, even if his mech had been one of those that ran out of power. For the rest? Rev picked up his pace. Maybe Tomiko would have more news.
The complex was bustling with activity, both Roher and Marine. Teams of Marine techs were trying to get mechs operational again. Even those that hadn’t been damaged in the fight had to get their powerpacks lit off again, and it was a race in time to get that done before any possible counterattack.
Outside the complex, and in a few cases, inside, armor techs would be doing the same with the tanks. Infantry were scattered throughout the complex, eating and sleeping.
Rev slowed down, searching for the platoon. The lieutenant had checked up on him at the aid station and told him where they were, but without an exact location he could pull up, he was a little unsure of himself.
“This about right, do you think?”
<You’re in the right area, but Lieutenant Omestori was somewhat vague in his directions. But if you turn your head to the right, that might have been the broken rail he mentioned.>
Rev turned, and his AI had been correct—unsurprisingly. The rail system that was used to move items around the complex had two breaks in it, separated by about five intact meters. Rev headed to it and found the platoon, much depleted, sprawled out on the ground under it.
“Shit. look who’s back from the dead,” Strap said as Rev approached.
“I’m too much of a bastard to let them take me out,” Rev said.
Strap stood and shook Rev’s hand. “Good to see you. Sorry about Tanu and Staff Sergeant Montez.”
“Corporal Dean-Ballester, too.”
“Respect to the fallen,” Strap said and was echoed by a few of the others.
“Where’s Third?” Rev asked, looking around. “Never mind. I see Hus-man.”
He made his way through the others and their welcomes to where the three Marines were sitting together in a small circle, eating chow.
“Look who decided to show up,” Corporal Nix said. “Grab yourself a seat. You need chow?”
Rev shook his head as he sat down next to Tomiko. Calling the sludge chow was false advertising.
“No, I ate at the aid station.”
“The lieutenant said you were going to be there for another couple of days,” Tomiko said.
“You know how it is. They didn’t need me taking up a bed. Kicked my ass out.”
Which wasn’t true. Rev had begged to leave and rejoin the platoon. He’d made such an ass of himself that one of the doctors had finally relented.
“Just glad to see you, Rev,” Tomiko said, pulling him close for a hug. “I felt so bad for leaving you down there, especially after you saved my—”
Rev put a hand over her mouth. “I was in no shape to go anywhere. My nanos were in overdrive, and I was juiced. And you still had the mission. Uh, you hear about anyone else?”
He didn’t have to specify who he meant. She knew, and she said, “Cricket made it. I saw him right after the last tin-ass blew. But the rest? Comms still isn’t restored.”
Which was about what he’d expected, but at least it was good to hear about Cricket.
“I saw Udu. She was one of the ones who pulled me out of the hole, and she told me Fyr made it, too,” he said.
Tomiko closed her eyes for a moment, her lips moving in what might have been a prayer of thanks.
“So, you were there at the end? What happened after you left me?” Rev asked.
“Shit, Rev, it was crazy,” Hussein said.
“We had to get out of the access tunnels first,” Nix said, taking over. “We could hear the fighting above us, but we couldn’t find a way up.”
“If the tin-asses had taken over the underground spaces, we’d still be fighting,” Tomiko said.
“But they did. The one that got staff . . . that we fought, that’s where it came from.”
“Just hiding out, we think,” Nix said. “The spaces down there were tight for even a riever to maneuver in. But anyway, once we got out, it was crazy, like Hus-man said. It was like they were cockroaches, running for cover, or maybe just to get away, but everywhere, Marines were swarming all over them, fearless bastards. We joined four mech-heads on this one—”
“Rally up on me!” the lieutenant shouted, cutting Nix off.
“He’s been up at the Three trying to find out what’s next,” Tomiko said as they hurried over.
The platoon—too few of them—formed a school circle around the lieutenant.
“Pelletier, Wen, good to see you two back with us,” he said, nodding at them.
“First, Gunny Thapa, Lance Corporal LaPete, and Corporal Akima are on their way back to Safe Harbor. Their long-term prognosis is up in the air, but none of them are in critical condition. They should pull through.”
“Ooh-rah,” several of the Marines shouted at the news.
“And now, for what we’re doing. This mission isn’t over. I need to see all the team leaders right after this, but as a warning order to everyone else, we’re going out in an hour.”
“We’ve got to make sure none of the bastards got away there at the end.”