Tech World (Undying Mercenaries Series) (6 page)

-6-

The only person aboard
Minotaur
who didn’t seem depressed was Natasha. She was excited to have the chance to visit Tau Ceti which she referred to by its nickname: Tech World.

“It’s a techie dream,” she told me. “They have stuff there you just can’t get on Earth.”

“Isn’t it some sort of space station? A merchant clearinghouse in orbit?” I asked, making conversation.

“Yes, there is the orbital market. That’s all most people know about the world. But there’s much more to the system than that.”

We were in line at the cafeteria, and I plucked an orange from a fake tree and rubbed it on my uniform. It was an old habit, one I continued to indulge even though I knew there wasn’t a spec of dirt left on fruit aboard a legion ship.

“That’s an example right there,” she said, pointing to the tree I’d just relieved of its fruit. “These trees in the cafeterias are new tech marvels from Tau Ceti. Have you ever wondered how a spindly tree like that can grow fresh fruit every night?”

“This thing cost hard Galactic credits?” I asked, looking at the tree in surprise. “I figured the fruit was glued on there by the staff to make it more appealing. You’re saying it actually
grows
like this?”

“Every night,” Natasha said, plucking one of her own. “See the leaves? They’re
real. This tree can grow anything we want. If we load it with a new DNA sequence it can grow new fruit
fast
.”

“Huh,” I said. “The food has been better on this trip.” I marveled briefly then carried my tray to a table and sat down. Natasha trailed behind and sat opposite me. She seemed to be almost in a trance as if her mind was working overtime.

“The possibilities…” she said. “There’s so much tech out there, James. It’s mind-boggling. We’ve lived on Earth all our lives while the vast galaxy has been just beyond our reach, wheeling around us, and creating new products we’ve never even heard of.”

She proceeded to talk about tech miracles she’d heard whispers about but which she’d never yet seen. The gusher of money that had reached Earth had doubled the number of consumer and government products from alien systems, but rather than satisfying her, a glimpse of the true economy of the Galactics had served to inflame her desire for more.

I went to work on lunch, shoveling and chewing. For me, eating is a pretty serious business. She’d barely touched her meal by the time I’d reached the half-way mark on my plate, and I have to admit I was eyeing her portion and wondering if she was going to need help with it.

“Tau Ceti isn’t like anywhere you’ve ever been,” she went on. “It’s more advanced than Earth in every way. The
Tau have completely covered their planet with a single gigantic city. Even the oceans are crisscrossed with bridges and artificial islands. But that’s only the half of it. Most of their world is hidden from the sky. It’s an old world, and they never stopped increasing their population. They’ve been restricted from colonizing other systems like all frontier worlds, but they’ve become an impressive power anyway.”

“You going to eat that orange?” I asked, unable to keep my true thoughts to myself any longer.

She tossed it to me and showed me a wry twist of her mouth.

“I have to admit, this is fresh-tasting,” I said, peeling the fruit and popping pieces of the orange into my mouth in rapid succession.

By the time she was done talking about alien tech, I was leaning back and sighing. I’d eaten half her ration and all of mine. For me, that was the very definition of satisfaction. Eating with a girl often resulted in windfalls like that, one of the reasons I did it so often.

Natasha leaned forward and whispered to me. “You want to know what I’m going to do when we get to
Gelt Station?” she asked.

I narrowed my eyes. “Something that you want to whisper about?”

She shrugged. “Nothing illegal—not exactly. I want to walk the markets and find something no one has ever seen on Earth. I’m going to buy it and take it home with me when our tour is done.”

“Why?”

She made an exasperated sound. “To show it off, of course. I can tell already you’re not going to be impressed.”

“Depends on what it is,” I said. “For instance, if you can score me a tree that pours out bourbon, or…I don’t know.”

“That’s it? Your imagination ends with a daily booze producer?”

“Well, you’d have to admit that would be pretty cool in my little house.”

“What else would you like to find?”

“Uh…” I looked at her and smiled in a predatory fashion. “How about a unique alien stimulation device? Something no one on Earth has experienced.”

She looked at me in disgust and crossed her arms. “That’s not what I meant, James.”

“Training in five,” I said, getting up.

All around us, soldiers were stirring and putting on their kits. Out in the passageway she turned to the left, and I had to go to the right. Techs and Weaponeers didn’t often train together.

I reached out and caught her hand. She turned and kissed me. We traded smiles and parted company.

“Still nailing that one, huh?” Carlos asked, falling into step beside me. “Losing your touch, aren’t you? I mean, shouldn’t you be chasing some fresh tail by now?”

“She’s a good friend.”

Carlos walked backwards for a half-dozen steps, making guttural sounds. “Yeah, I can understand the attraction better as she walks away. Tasty.”

I tripped him without even breaking my stride. It wasn’t hard since he was walking backward. He sprawled
, then bounced back up.

“Asshole,” he muttered.

“Have you heard anything about our unit’s assignment?”

“Not really. We’re all breaking up, I know that muc
h. We’re spreading all over Gelt Station playing soldier for any tax-cheat, payroll courier, or merchant princess who wants a color guard.”

“I have to admit it does sound a little dull. But I’m looking forward to a vacation from serious combat missions. Isn’t it about time we got a cush assignment?”

“Yeah, maybe,” Carlos admitted. “We can’t always play hero on some primitive dirtball of a planet, I guess. It just seems wrong for Legion Varus, you know what I mean?”

Looking down at him, I frowned and nodded. “You’ve got a point there. As I see it, there are two possible reasons for this assignment. Either Turov just wants to put us on ice out here so we can’t embarrass her further, or…”

“Or what?”

“Or there’s more going on out there than we’ve been told about. Maybe there’s a reason why they’re retiring Germanica from this world and putting in the goon squad instead.”

“Ha! The goon squad. Yeah, that’s about what we are, isn’t it?”

We reached the exercise room, took up live weapons and slouched against the wall. Above and ahead, we could see space. It was vivid but fake. I knew there was only a titanium wall there, no stars, no swirling planets or nebulae.

When a warp ship was inside its bubble, sliding between the stars at amazing speeds, it was impossible to see light in a normal way. An actual window to the bubble field outside would only show a glowing white haze. But as it comforted the occupants, human ships tended to display portals and even large panoramic views of what the passing universe
should
look like—if it were physically possible to see it.

“What’s on the menu today?” Carlos asked me.

“Another squad of recruits,” I said, shouldering my belcher, a heavy plasma cannon.

“You don’t sound happy about it? You scared?”

I glanced at him and gave him a disgusted look. This kind of training had always delighted Carlos and disturbed me.

“My only fear is that you’ll shoot me in the ass somehow,” I said.

Carlos belly-laughed. “That’s more likely than getting hit by the noobs!”

The exercise room began to warp and dim. I knew that was our cue. Carlos and I jogged forward and selected a position behind a rock that had grown up out of the floor over the last thirty seconds. It was solid enough even
though it was just a pack of smart metal with a pixelated texture projected over it.

Veteran Harris’ voice crackled into my ear as I adjusted my helmet and the built-in headset.

“All right, ambushers. The recruits are entering the passage to the west in one minute. No one is to fire until they are all in the room, armed, and on alert. Is that clear? No pasting them early this time.”

I heaved a sigh. The exercise room was about two hundred meters square, but it seemed bigger because of all the illusory scenery on the walls. Trees, rocks, even tall grasses that rippled in a non-existent wind now surrounded the fire team I was hiding with. Including Veteran Harris himself there were only six of us against thirty recruits, but this wasn’t going to be a fair fight.

The noobs came in, armed themselves with snap-rifles from a rack, and were told to patrol to the far side of the exercise area. The Adjunct leading the group was a thin female with big eyes and a small, mean mouth. She ordered them forward but didn’t step into the room herself.

As an experienced soldier in Legion Varus, I could have told these poor bastards to keep their eyes on their own officer for clues. Whatever she did—or didn’t do—could be critical to their odds of survival.

“Hold your fire, troops,” Harris said in my earpiece. “Let the babies march in close. We want to scare them good.”

Scare them?
That was a laugh. We were going to tear them apart. For the first time, my mood shifted. I watched as the confused recruits walked forward. They looked around warily but without proper appreciation for the danger they were in. It didn’t seem right that they should be blasted without warning.

I reached up and cranked the aperture on my weapon down to a tight beam. An instant later, Carlos slapped a gauntlet on my shoulder.

“Are you going to screw me?” he asked quietly, his helmet uncomfortably close to mine.

“Take your position, trooper,” I said. “This is gonna be a real fight.”

“Shit McGill—shit!” Carlos broke off and belly-crawled away from my position.

I almost chuckled. There was one man who knew me well.

Sighting carefully with my cannon balanced on the back of a fake rock, I targeted the approaching platoon. I was supposed to start this with a wide-angle blast that would engulf the front troops in a cone of hot plasma. Ambushing them and taking out half their number in the opening volley was part of the procedure.

Instead, I aimed through them to the very back rank. There, slinking along with her pistol drawn and looking very tense, was the thin Adjunct.

She knew the score, of course. She was leading her platoon into an ambush to teach them a “lesson”.

“McGill leads,” Harris said. “Fire when ready, weaponeer.”

I couldn’t get a clear shot. The hapless recruits were all over, bunching up, not even keeping their distance from one another. I watched as they jostled one another, laughing. I had to admit these pups needed a little training. I felt sure they were going to get it before this was over.

“McGill?” Harris said a second later. “Fire, man!”

It was like threading a needle with a fire hose. I nudged my weapon right, then left. Damn, that Adjunct was a skinny little thing. It was almost as if she knew what was coming.

Finally
, I got my clear shot, and I took it instantly. A gush of brilliant energy leapt across the short distance between our converging lines. It lanced between several startled recruits and caught the Adjunct full in the upper body. Her head was completely gone, and most of her narrow shoulders were burned away with it.

My dad used to talk about how chickens ran around the yard after you cut their heads off. That didn’t happen in this case. The Adjunct flopped down stone dead. But the rest of her platoon certainly did remind me of frightened fowl as they scrambled for cover screaming and shouting to one another.

All around me, my dastardly comrades sighted, but held their fire, waiting for the order. We had heavy armor, experience, and surprise on our side. But there were only six of us against thirty.

“What kind of
a chicken-shit shot was that?” Harris demanded. “Take out that front line before they disperse!”

I set my plasma cannon aside and released the heating coil, letting it drop out onto the camouflaged deck
, steaming. It sizzled there and sent up a tendril of gray smoke.

“Weaponeer reporting weapon failure,” I said calmly. “Repeat, weaponeer McGill reporting—”

“Damn you, McGill!” Harris roared. “You think you’re funny? The rest of you fire at will! Tear them up!”

A hail of fire erupted from both sides almost simultaneously. The recruits had gotten over their stunned status and were back in the fight. Their commander was down, but they were past their initial shock and
they responded by getting low and crawling toward us.

The metallic trees around us were splattered with countless rounds. I returned fire with my secondary weapon taking out two before I was hit multiple times and forced to retreat.
I don’t like to die any more than the next guy. Really, I don’t.