"Done," I said. "Now, what about-?"

Anne kissed me. She did so with real feeling. I was surprised, but I went with it. We made out for about ten seconds, and a pair of pa.s.sing techs snickered behind our backs.

When theyd gone by, Anne removed her lips from mine. Still in my arms, with her head on my chest, she started talking quietly.

"Drusus is on hold. Hes not getting a revive-not yet, anyway."

"Turov ordered this?"

"Of course."

My face screwed itself up into a frown. "Thats bulls.h.i.t."

"Dont do anything, James," she cautioned. "Dont do anything crazy."

"The tribunes legion is deploying to the surface today. Solstice is going down too. Both Tribune Drusus and Tribune Francisco are still on ice, is that right?"

"Yes. We believe she wants to run this invasion directly, without any arguments from tribunes who think its their job to command their own legions."

I heaved a sigh. "Its a little worse than that. Shes got some kind of scheme going. She doesnt want any real bra.s.s around to challenge her or to report back to Earth on her activities."

Anne looked at me in concern. "What are you talking about?"

Quietly, whispering in her ear between kisses and caresses, I let her know about what Turov and Claver had been scheming to do. She was alarmed by the end.

"Weve got to do something," Anne said. "She cant play G.o.d out here on the front lines."

"I have a solution. Why dont you accidentally revive our two tribunes?"

She shook her head. "I cant do that. Id never get away with it. But I might not have to. Wish me luck."

I didnt know what she was planning, but I knew how to wish her luck. I only let go of her tight little body when she managed to pry herself away. When she went back inside the door to Blue Deck, she gave my hand a squeeze.

"The answer is yes, by the way," she said as she vanished.

"The answer is yes? To what?" I asked the closing door. I stood there for a second, wondering what she had meant. Then I caught on.

There had been, after all, only one question in my mind while I was pawing at her. Apparently the answer to that question was yes.

I checked my tapper. It was go-time in forty-two minutes.

I trotted back to the dragon bays, smiling. At least I had something to look forward to when I got back together with Anne again.

The ride down in the lifter was relatively uneventful, until the last few minutes.

"Were getting flak!" my headset buzzed. The voice was that of the transport ships captain. Her words came as a surprise.

There wasnt supposed to be much in the way of organized resistance on this drop. The enemy had planted troops, sure. But they hadnt taken down much in the way of heavy equipment with them, as far as our techs had determined by studying the records afterward.

Troops. Just a few thousand squid troops. How were they shooting at us in this turbulent, thick atmosphere?

The ship heeled and slew. I heard a thumping sound from below the deck which I knew was the sound of countermeasures being launched. All manner of chaff, beeping decoys and the like were pumped out to obscure the ship from enemy gunners.

About a minute later, while troops barfed and swayed in their dragons, using their grippers to hang on, we took a minor hit.

The lifter didnt depressurize, but smoke filled the hold. After that, the pilot changed tactics. The ship stopped maneuvering and plummeted for the surface instead. I could tell the crew had decided to put us down as fast as possible and to stop trying to be fancy about it.

Carlos was puffing next to me like he was having a baby. "This is not cool, man," he said. "Were going to die before we even get to run off this ship. They should have landed farther from the d.a.m.ned mountain."

"Maybe," I said, "but then wed just have to march in under fire."

"Ill take my chances on the ground. I hate being meat in a can. Let me out. Let me fight!"

I understood his concerns, and I felt the same way. One of the worst ways to die was being shot from a distance, without any way to defend yourself. When youd been hit as many times as we had, it was hard to control that panicky feeling. Helpless dread ran through you. Sometimes, I wished I was as cool about dying as Graves was. The man had ice water in his veins.

We made it down about thirty seconds later. This time, the ramp didnt lower itself gently, revealing the world outside. Instead, it dropped with a clang and fell completely out of sight. The crew must have blown the explosive bolts on the hinges. This couldnt be a good sign.

"Abandon ship!" shouted the captain. "Incoming fire! Abandon ship, all hands!"

That was all she had to say. I didnt even get to give anyone an order. The squad was bounding for the opening, taking matters into their own hands.

Dragons are fast and deadly when the pilot wants them to be. Unfortunately, the hundreds of infantry we had with us werent so fast or nearly as thick-skinned. Light troops were trampled and crushed down as the Dragons scrambled to get past them.

I saw Carlos run right over a light trooper, breaking his leg and crushing his snap-rifle with one down-stroke of his machine-driven legs.

I wanted to order them to stop, but I couldnt give that order. The dragon pilots were doing the right thing. The bodies of regular light troops were expendable. h.e.l.l, they could regrow these people back on Cyclops if they had to. All they needed to get back into combat was a new smart cloth uniform and another snap-rifle. The dragons were different. For the duration of this campaign, these combat machines were irreplaceable.

"Get off this ship any way you can!" I ordered my squad, with misgivings. "Youre to save your dragons. Allow nothing to get in your way. Blow a hole in the hull if you have to!"

I think Carlos was the first to exit the lifter. I was about the eighth. Behind us dozens more flowed out onto the snowy fields.

In less than a minute, over half the cavalry aboard had evacuated the lifter. Most of those left behind were light troops, Solstice people whod been too slow or too abused to get away.

The lifter exploded at that point. I saw the enemy missile barrage streaking in at an angle for a split-second. The missiles were quite small, but they packed a punch. They slammed into the lifter with a shattering boom.

The ship broke apart, sending deadly shards and burning chunks of metal in every direction. We were already running, so we kept running. Everyone in my squad made it out alive except for Sargon. A twirling piece of debris came down out of the roiling mist and knocked him flat. His c.o.c.kpit depressurized, and with his suit too damaged to reseal itself, he asphyxiated in the deadly non-air of the planet.

It was a tough way to go, with your lungs bubbling and your spine broken. I hoped he hadnt suffered long and that we would meet again soon.

-29-.

There was plenty of cover on the mountain, but not much that sheltered us from an attack from above. Unfortunately, thats where the enemy was.

The squids had entrenched themselves high up on the shoulders of the ma.s.sive spire of metallic rock. They must have had drilling equipment to dig into the ground up there. I didnt really have time to figure it all out. I was too busy gathering my squad and huddling up against a spur of ice and rock at the foot of the mountain.

"All right, sound off!"

They did, and I determined Id lost only Sargon. I reported this to Leeson.

"Thats good," he said, sounding a little out of breath. He was hiding in his own gully a few hundred meters to the west of us. "Harris group didnt do as well. In fact, half of them are dead-including Harris. Im going to merge up your squad with his. Youll have Della as your sidekick to replace Sargon."

For some reason, that made me a little uncomfortable. Della and I had been pretty much avoiding each other since shed been a.s.signed to Harris squad. Partly, that was because we were both too busy, but partly it was because I was dodging certain realities. Her triple revelations about being married, having had our kid and the whole thing about there being a second Natasha wandering around Dust World-I guess that had just been too much for me. Id kind of shied away from her since then, not knowing what to say.

A few minutes later when Della trotted her dragon into the shadow of the same boulders where I was hiding, there was nowhere to dodge. We were going to have to live together-and quite possibly die together-one more time.

"Della!" I shouted. "You take the second maniple. Im leading the first. Split your troops up between the two."

"Hey!" Carlos complained. "Shes a specialist, sure, but why dont you give me command of Sargons maniple?"

I thought about it for maybe two seconds then shook my head. "Dellas in charge."

Carlos walked his mount away, muttering something about who he had to screw to get command experience. I let it go and ordered my group to prepare to break out.

"Were going to race up to the next point of cover. See that ridge? The enemy missile batteries cant reach that spot easily."

My plans were dashed when Leeson called me again.

"Dont move out yet," he told me. "I need you to protect the infantry. Im putting a full unit behind your machines. Walk in front of them. Dont leave them out on the open slopes."

I couldnt believe it. "Sir? Are you serious?"

"The squids are mostly using light arms, sniping from way up high. Light arms wont penetrate your dragons."

"Sir, there are small missiles raining down on us. I need all the speed and maneuverability I can get. I cant be saddled with infantry to babysit!"

"You have your orders, McGill, and I have mine. Start babysitting."

Grumbling, I turned back to my expanded squad. There were nineteen of us in all. I explained the plan, and they werent any happier about it than I was.

"Whats the d.a.m.ned point of driving around this metal dinosaur if we cant run at top speed?" Carlos demanded. "Does the adjunct maybe want us to cover up the muzzles of our weapons, too? We dont want to scare the locals, do we?!"

Privately I agreed with Carlos, but I couldnt very well say so. A full unit of Solstice light infantry was filtering into our shelter even now. They looked young and scared. I didnt blame them.

"Okay," I said to my squad. "Della, take point with your half of the dragons. Well moving upslope, but not in a knot. Spread out so we dont all get pasted by a single missile barrage. March as fast as a man can run up this hill. If there are stragglers, well, thats their problem."

About a minute later I found myself trotting my dragon up the hill. In my wake light infantry scrambled to keep up, looking like baby ducks crossing a highway behind a negligent mama. There was incoming fire, but it wasnt very dangerous yet. What surprised me most was the nature of it. Could those be snap-rifle rounds? Yes, the familiar whine and snap along with the telltale orange sparks. .h.i.tting the rocks around us-they were unmistakable. The enemy must have purchased snap-rifles on the black market somewhere.

"Theyre shooting at us with our own d.a.m.ned weapons!" Carlos complained.

A round spanged off my cha.s.sis, but I soldiered on. Behind me, the infantry hustled to stay close. One went down, and he didnt get back up. Hed taken a round in the throat.

"They must have bought these rifles from Frontier 921 worlds," I said. "I bet the saurians are trading with them. Trade ships are breaking the Empire rules all over the place. Claver might be behind it. Funny, Im surprised even Claver has the b.a.l.l.s it takes to go up against the Empire."

"Funny, but not ha-ha funny," Carlos said. "Maybe the traders know the score better than we do. They get around. Maybe the Empire isnt such a big threat anymore. Were the only ones out here trying to stop anyone from doing whatever they want to."

Carlos words concerned me. He had a good point. Before I could come up with a response, Della cut in.

"The incoming fire is getting heavy," she reported. She was up ahead of me, leading the first wave. "Permission to employ our shields, Veteran!"

"h.e.l.l yeah! Do whatever you need to keep your dragons walking."

I saw the lead machines shimmer, enclosing themselves in artificial fields. Sparks that had been pounding into metal now disintegrated without reaching the hulls of the dragons. I should have suspected that Harris had chosen shields in his load-out. As it had turned out, it was the right choice for this situation. Then again, hed taken more losses getting off the lifter because his dragons had been slow.

Now that wed been tasked with marching up a hill, protecting infantry, the shields were an excellent advantage. They burned up energy reserves like there was no tomorrow, but I wished my dragon had them. Id have switched them on in a heartbeat.

Behind me, light troops tried to keep my churning legs between them and the incoming fire. The squid infantry above and ahead were still showering us with projectiles, but fortunately, they were firing blind. They couldnt see us visually due to the heavy mists. That said, they obviously knew where we were and that we were advancing. The storm of fire couldnt be stopped entirely by the dragons. Now and then one of the running infantry was. .h.i.t and sent tumbling back down the slope.

When we finally got to the next major outcropping of cover, Della reported that her power reserves were a quarter down. I ordered her machines to go into standby. They could recharge a little while my group stood guard.

Thats when I finally met the Solstice centurion of the unit I was escorting. She was none other than Centurion Belter. Her group had been wiped out the last time wed fought on this planet, the same as my squad had been.

"What a pleasant surprise," I said, calling to Centurion Belter. "I didnt know you were marching up here with us, sir. Are you in command of this force?"

"Technically, yes," Belter said. "But I dont know anything about these new dragons and their capabilities. I want you to fight your cavalry as you see fit, Veteran. You got us this far."

"Fair enough. Was it an accident that we were thrown in together?"

"Not at all, McGill. I requested the grouping after the confusion I witnessed while abandoning the lifter."

This surprised me. I couldnt recall the last time an officer had requested to throw their lot in with me. Especially not an officer from a rival legion.

I was beginning to like Solstice. They werent as famous as Victrix or Germanica, which were s...o...b..at-outfits in my opinion, more concerned with how they looked in the net news vids back home than anything else. Maybe Solstice people had a little humility and respect for others due to their less storied past. They seemed like hard-bitten fighting troops, used to dying without a thanks or ceremony. Their heavy troops wore armor that was covered in tarnish, dents and burn-marks. The light troops I was grouped with now were equally tough. I hadnt heard a complaint out of one of their mouths yet.

About five minutes after we reached shelter, another two units of infantry and a cavalry squad joined us. None of the formations were full-strength by now. Wed lost about twenty percent of our troops already, and we hadnt killed a single squid yet as far as I could tell.

Graves and Leeson were among those who joined us under the overhang.

"This is intolerable," Leeson complained. "What are we-a kilometer or so up from the base? We cant climb another nine thousand meters under this kind of fire. Why didnt Turov just blast the squids from the sky to start with?"

"Because," Graves answered him in command chat, "were trying to capture this frigging mountain full of t.i.tanium, not blow it up. The squids were ingenious to land here. They must have known they were safe."

"Either that," I said, "or theyve already been mining here and meant to support this mountain as a base. When they landed, they didnt know we were going to fire on their ships. They thought we had a deal."

Graves left the chat channel and contacted me privately.

"Sir?" I asked, opening the connection.

"McGill, you always seem to have nuggets of illicit information. What do you mean the squids werent expecting to be fired upon?"

I realized Id screwed up. Id promised Turov I wouldnt mention she was in on the deal with Claver from the start. Graves saved me from confessing, however. Hed already pretty much figured everything out.

"So, the scheme went deeper than I thought. Turov and Claver had this arranged-probably months ago. I can only guess at your involvement. How do you get yourself into these things, McGill?"

"Im not rightly sure, Centurion," I admitted. "It must be due to my personal charismatic aura."

He laughed.