The shuttle bucked as it pierced the upper reaches of Ileri’s atmosphere. Noo clutched the airsickness bag in her lap and kept her eyes closed. That didn’t banish the growing roar as a ball of plasma enveloped their ride.
She’d done this twice in four days, which was two times too many.
To keep her mind off the terror, she replayed Daniel’s message once again. The Commonwealth signals officer had relayed it to her right before they boarded the shuttle, and she’d watched it twice already as the shuttle detached from Amazonas and made its initial de-orbiting burn.
He looked so serious, for all that he tried to keep his voice casual as he relayed news of her family. Her relief that those she loved most on the station were safe was tempered by the situation report Gupta shared with them about just how much of Ileri Station was in rebel hands. Nevertheless, she took comfort knowing that for now, at least, they were free and unharmed.
And then came the part where he paused and licked his lips before continuing. “I don’t know how to say this sweetly. You know I’m not that sort of man, not smooth in that way. So, I’ll just say it. We’ve known each other a long time, loved each other a long time.” He paused again. “Yes, love. I know sometimes it’s been hard, and our corners rub up against each other and we fight, and we pull away because staying close hurts too much. But I find myself thinking about what matters to me the most. And what matters most is that I want to spend the rest of my life with you, however we can make that work.” He smiled, and it touched his eyes, and once again she felt an ache in her chest. “And I’m sorry it took this for me to see it. I promise to try and be less dense in the future. Whether you’ll have me or not, Noo Okereke. Stay safe if you can, but if you can’t, remember what I always tell the rookies.”
“Do it fast, do it dirty, and do it first,” she murmured along with him, and closed the message window.
She sensed Meiko’s eyes on her and turned her head to look at the other woman. “What?”
“If that was a prayer, well, we could certainly use whatever benevolence the universe has to spare,” Meiko said.
“Not exactly,” Noo said, and repeated Daniel’s aphorism aloud.
Meiko chuckled. “I like it,” she said. She looked around the cabin. “It’s the best way to win a fight.”
“Fair fights are for suckers,” Noo agreed.
Nobody shot at them as they plummeted ground-ward, Saljuans, rebels, or anyone else for that matter. The shuttle passed through the fiery-brick-of-death phase of entry without incident and Noo considered her prayers well answered.
They began the long, banking turn that would bring them to their landing zone. Meiko sat on Noo’s right, seemingly relaxed. She kept her helmet visor clear and Noo watched the other woman’s eyes as they danced through whatever feeds or private windows she had called up. Meiko saw her watching and turned to flash Noo a grin. “You’re becoming a pro at this,” she told Noo. “And at least this time, we mean to be landing somewhere that people are going to be shooting at us.”
Noo laughed at that despite her discomfort. “Our track record for travel is pretty bad, isn’t it? The riot, the botched raid, the crash, the cutters on the way up, and now this?”
Meiko pointed to the space to Noo’s left. “This time, we’re coming properly equipped,” she said.
Noo twisted her head that way and eyed Zheng. “For a change,” she conceded.
She hoped Zheng’s idea gave them the edge they needed. “I have to admit, there have been times I’ve wished I could wear a full rig on police duty,” she said when they made the plan. She wore such a rig now: one of Amazonas’ spare suits of powered combat armor, its chameleon coating hastily programmed with Ileri Constabulary colors.
Zheng didn’t respond to their quips. “Is she sleeping?” Noo asked incredulously.
“I expect so,” Meiko said. “It’s a soldier thing. They can sleep any time they’re not moving for more than a few minutes. I guess she’s reverted.”
“Wish I could do that,” Noo said.
Fari stood braced in the cradle next to Zheng’s, though her rig was one of the combat exoskeletons, rather than full power armor. The rest of them had settled for hard-shelled ballistic torso armor and padded, half-armored trousers along with helmets, all likewise borrowed from Amazonas’ stores. Fortunately, one of the Commonwealth troops was close enough to her size that the set Noo wore didn’t quite feel like she was wearing a sausage casing.
At least she carried her own guns. Zheng had her suit’s built-in weapons, so she’d loaned her personal arms to Meiko, who bore a goober gun crowd-control launcher along with the pistols.
“Do you know how to use that?” Noo asked.
“I fired one on a virtual range once,” Meiko replied, which didn’t exactly fill Noo with confidence.
The mission timer flashed red, and the ship’s system announced they were three minutes from touchdown. Zheng woke up and locked her arms into landing position. At two minutes out, the cabin lights switched to red. Noo fastened her face mask into place with hands that were suddenly steady and sure, the motion similar to what she’d practiced in numerous emergency drills at home on the station. She felt the calm of what Fari called her ‘mission mind’ settle upon her, cloaking her in cold purpose.
With less than thirty seconds to touchdown the autopilot slammed on the thrust reversers, throwing Noo against her safety harness. It wasn’t as painful as she expected, the force distributed across her body by the armor. Once again, the smart headrest clamped down automatically on the sides of her helmet, keeping her head from snapping forward. The lights cut out, the assault doors slammed open, and suddenly they were part of the backcountry night sky. Her audio implants kicked in to muffle the roar of the jets, filtering them out, leaving the rushing wind of their passage. It seemed like all the air in the world was blowing through the doors, making the cloth of her trousers ripple.
The headrest released its grip on her helmet and Noo looked out to get her bearings. Her borrowed visor shifted to night vision mode and she could make out the shapes of the cabins in the gray-green false color images.
The shuttle settled down onto the open space between the buildings and the river with a thump and she hit her harness’ quick release. Pulling herself upright she saw Zheng spring forward like something from a nature vid, a gazelle perhaps, as the lieutenant launched herself out the door the moment the landing gear touched ground. A trio of airborne security bots whizzed past Noo to establish a perimeter around the shuttle. She trotted out onto the wing, Meiko right behind her, as the solider-turned-policeman bounded towards the buildings.
The largest didn’t look like Noo’s idea of a cabin, though she supposed it might pass for a ‘lodge’. It was two stories tall, with single-story wings to the right and left of the main structure. The infrared scans showed it to be the only occupied building in the camp, so for now they ignored the others.
“Rio Mizwar and associates, you are hereby apprehended under the Covenants of the Ileri Republic!” Zheng called out on her armor’s external speakers.
Her words were still booming off the building’s front as she blew the front door open with a breaching rocket fired on the run.
Noo ducked instinctively at the blast, even though she’d expected it, which allowed Meiko to surge past her with the goober gun. Fari crunched along in her exoskeletons, arm-mounted mini-guns already powered up. Noo cursed, waved off Teng’s offer of assistance, and trotted behind her comrades.
The left-wing door crashed open. Noo’s pistol was in her hand and she snapped off two rounds without conscious thought, the weapon bucking against her gloved palm. One round hit the door frame and spanged away. Someone inside fired back but she couldn’t tell who they were shooting at. An autorifle cut loose from inside the main door, answered by the stuttering rrrrrriiiipppp of Zheng’s mini-gun. Zheng slowed down to a brisk walk as she crossed the threshold, bullets ricocheting off her armor.
A defender fired again from the left door and she saw Meiko spin on one heel. Noo feared her partner had been hit, but instead Meiko planted her left foot, raised the goober gun to her shoulder, and fired a round into the doorway. The grenade burst on contact and then boiling foam filled the entry way, hardening even as Noo jogged up to the smoking ruin of the front door. She saw Teng lope around to cover the building’s rear while Fari held position between the lodge and their shuttle, ready to offer fire support.
Once inside the smoldering doorway, they found themselves in a large foyer with stairs rising to the second floor, from where they heard Zheng’s amplified voice calling again for surrender. A fusillade of shots answered her demand. A body lay next to the stairs in a spreading pool of blood. Splotches of blood and bullet holes marked the wall. Meiko slung her goober gun and they passed the stairs, pistols drawn, and entered a large room furnished with couches, chairs, and a massive stone structure Noo realized was for burning wood.
Since they’d taken fire from the left side of the house, they pivoted that direction from the great room, finding two doors. “Get the back door, I’ve got the front,” Meiko said, as she holstered her pistol and unslung her goober gun. Noo ran to take up position, feet thudding on the floor. She heard the thonk and pop behind her, and more gunfire from upstairs.
Noo studied the door in front of her, wondering how she could yank it open without the benefit of power armor, or at least a combat exoskeleton, as Meiko sauntered up next to her. “Try the handle,” Meiko said, stunner in her left hand, pistol in her right. Noo licked her lips, nodded, and grabbed the handle. She twisted it and was surprised to find that it was, indeed, unlocked. With a jerk, she pulled it open and ducked inside.
And found herself looking at her quarry, who looked like he’d been about to push the door open himself.
Mizwar’s eyes widened in surprise, but he still managed to step back, swung his rifle to bear, and fired from the hip as she desperately twisted away.
The three-round burst slammed into Noo’s chest and belly, but the Commonwealth hard-shell armor was good kit; angled as she was, his bullets couldn’t penetrate. Even so, she staggered with the impact as the air was driven out of her lungs. But her djinn marked her target and she brought her pistol in line and fired, once.
Mizwar screamed as the bullet smashed his right hand, turning it to a bloody ruin. The rifle clattered to the floor as blood splashed across the wall and onto her visor. Noo careened to her left and crashed into the wall. It took everything she had not to double over and rip off her face mask as her body insisted that she ought to. Mizar dropped to his knees, his right wrist cradled in his left hand, as she put her pistol against the top of his head.
Her vision narrowed, like she was looking through a tube. Had she been hit after all? Was she dying, as Saed had, at this man’s hands?
It would be so easy. Just one pull of the trigger.
Meiko reached forward and gently pushed Noo’s gun up and away from Mizwar’s head, then neatly kicked the rifle down the hall, firmly out of reach, and holstered her pistols.
When Noo could stand upright again she saw Meiko had Mizwar on the floor, face down, as she knelt on his back and yanked a plastic restraint band tight around his wrists. They ignored his cry of pain.
“Are you all right?” Meiko asked, after glancing at Noo’s armor.
“Yeah,” Noo said in the sudden quiet. The shooting had stopped upstairs.
“Would you like to do the honors?” Meiko said. “I understand there’s proper form to be observed.”
“There is, and I will.” She set her weapon to safe, holstered it, and then slumped down against the wall. She braced herself with a weary arm and leaned over to look into Mizwar’s face.
“You’re clipped, you bastard.”
Meiko finished restraining her prisoner and eyed her partner up and down. “Are you sure you’re all right?” she asked.
“Got the wind knocked out of me, that’s all,” Noo said. “I’ll have some fucking spectacular bruises and I feel like I’ve been hit by a damned car, but I’ve been worse.”
“Lucky he didn’t go for a headshot,” Meiko said. That brought a wheezing laugh from their prisoner.
They both stared at him. “Do you have something to say?” Meiko asked.
“Not really,” he said. His voice was deep but ragged with suppressed pain. She groped at her harness and found the first aid kit. She gave him a carefully considered half-dose of painkiller. Not that Mizwar’s comfort was her true concern, but at some point, she’d have to answer officially for his treatment. If the sedative lowered inhibitions and made him less resistant to interrogation, well, that was a side benefit.
She glanced up at Noo from where she squatted beside their quarry. “I believe there’s a mandated warning about his rights?”
“Yeah,” Noo said, and pulled herself a little straighter from where she slumped against the wall. She recited the caution. “You are hereby apprehended under the Covenants of the Ileri Republic. You may choose to remain silent, but failure to disclose information you later rely on in court will be viewed with prejudice. Anything you do say can and will be considered as evidence in any and all proceedings. You have the right to a court-appointed advocate, and an interpreter if you require one. Do you understand these rights as they have been explained to you?”
“You’re not police,” Mizwar said, and Meiko repressed a sudden urge to kick him.
“I’m properly deputized,” Noo said, “and my partner is providing mutual aid sanctioned by both our governments. It was a constable who blew in your door, though, so it’s all nice and legal. Now, do you understand these rights as they have been explained to you?”
“I do,” he said. Meiko felt the tension in her shoulders ease a little bit. She rose and offered Noo a hand up, and then the two of them yanked Mizwar to his feet. She then keyed the comm net. “We’ve got him. Minor wound but otherwise intact.”
“What about my people?” Mizwar asked through teeth still clenched against the pain.
“Let’s find out,” Meiko said. “One dead for sure.”
Zheng asked for assistance with two prisoners and Teng clomped in, since Fari’s exoskeleton wouldn’t fit through the doorway even after the rocket-based remodeling. Teng grinned as he recognized Mizwar, flashed them the hand sign for mission complete, and headed up the stairs.
They hauled Mizwar past the body of his fallen teammate and out under the wide-open sky. Fari clomped over, the arms of her exoskeleton raised high. She stared at Mizwar, and Meiko could see her hands flex. “You give him the caution already?” Noo affirmed that she had. “Pity,” Fari said, and stomped away to stand near the shuttle.
The voice of Amaonzas’ signal officer on their comm net came as a surprise. “Ogawa. You need to get your people moving. The orbital situation is evolving rapidly.”
“What’s going on?” she said as Zheng and Teng appeared in the doorway with the survivors of Mizwar’s team.
Suddenly, the night sky turned to day.
They stared, all of them, as a new sun appeared, its brilliant white light casting harsh, sharp-edged shadows. It proved ephemeral, though, and over the course of a minute it faded away to nothing.
“What in the name of the Mother was that?” Noo asked.
“Someone just used a nuclear weapon in orbit,” Zheng said.
“No,” said Mizwar, and there was a note of triumph in his voice. Meiko saw with shock the most beatific expression on his face she’d ever come across. “True purification.”
“What do you mean by that?” Meiko asked, her own voice shaking. Mizwar didn’t respond; he simply stood, his face turned skyward, his face almost rapturous. She keyed the net to call Amazonas but there was no response. “Shit. I’ve lost contact with topside.”
They gathered by the shuttle. Zheng carried one of Mizwar’s companions, wounded during the firefight, to the triage bay. Teng, the closest thing they had to a trained medic, fired up the shuttle’s expert system and did his best to stabilize the patient while Meiko and the others secured Mizwar and his unwounded compatriot in acceleration couches. Zheng grabbed two body bags and returned to the house for the last casualties.
“If it wasn’t a nuke, what was it?” Fari asked.
“The only other weapon I know of with that kind of effect would be an antimatter conversion bomb,” Meiko said. Noo and Fari stared at her. “It seems the Saljuans brought some along. I expect they’ll claim to have found forbidden Exile technology somewhere in orbit.”
“Do you think that’s what Amazonas was trying to warn us about?” Noo asked as she finished securing Mizwar to his couch.
“Maybe. Or a conventional space battle might be starting up and they had to maneuver. Or both things. I’ll see if I can raise the ship.” Meiko made her way to the pilot’s compartment and waved her djinn to open the hatch. She’d ridden in the copilot’s seat of shuttles before, but never a military craft like this. Surprisingly, though, the shuttle’s controls responded to her djinn, and her incoming message indicator flashed.
She opened the message and discovered it was from Captain Gupta. The captain had zer combat suit on, but zer helmet off, indicating action topside was imminent. “Ogawa. The situation is deteriorating rapidly. The Saljuans have announced they’ve found signs of Exile-grade nanoware being manufactured in orbit and are broadcasting their findings. I’ll append the packet to this message. They’re going to destroy the facility with an antimatter weapon.” Gupta’s eyes flicked to another window and ze spat out a curse Meiko’s grandmother once used. “It looks like the rebel forces are moving to engage. We’re going to have to change orbits or we’ll get caught up in that mess. The pilot’s sending you two course packages for the autopilot. One will take you to New Abuja. The other is for Ileri Station. I authorize you to exercise your own judgement and pick whichever destination best allows you to complete your mission. Gupta out.”
Meiko sat back in the pilot’s couch and closed her eyes. Weariness mixed with dread overtook her. Both the Commonwealth and the Star Republic had possessed antimatter weapons for many decades, but they’d never been used before. As far as she knew, anyway.
The veil is torn now. There’s no going back.
Noo awkwardly clambered into the copilot’s couch. “Have you reached anyone yet?”
“Kind of.” Meiko forwarded the message to the rest of the team. No one spoke as they digested the news.
She heard Zheng clomping about as she stepped to the door and looked up. “I can see flashes of light in the sky,” she reported. “I think they’re going at it up there in orbit.”
“So where do we go?” Meiko asked. “New Abuja, or the station?”
“Is there any question?” Noo said, gently. She laid her hand on Meiko’s arm. “Take us home.”