I took that moment to remind Graves about the native machines who had informed me that they were working for the squids.

"There are trails and familiar swirls all over the surface in this region," I said. "To me, that indicates the local machine population frequents the spot."

"You think the squids have machine allies here?" Graves asked me.

"Yes, I would estimate they do. These patterns in the rock and the ore-theyre like identifying teeth marks for the machines."

Graves wasnt happy with my news. If I was right, it meant we werent just fighting a few thousand squids, we were facing an unknown number of native machines as well.

-30-.

We got a break about an hour later. We were ordered to dig in and hunker down. Supporting fire was due to come down within a few hours. The orders were almost impossible to follow as we were on a mountain of t.i.tanium ore and methane ice, two substances that were anything but forgiving. We tried to dig foxholes anyway-but failed.

"Itll take an industrial drilling machine to penetrate this!" Kivi complained. Her dragons claws rasped and scratched pointlessly on the surface.

"Its hard rock," I agreed. "Forget about it. Save your batteries. Well close ranks and hug up against the overhang. Lets wait it out, everyone."

Belter already had her troops in a fold of protective rock that looked like a crack in the ground. Our dragons wouldnt fit, and I didnt want to have my pilots get out of them, so we stood awkwardly around and waited for whatever was coming our way.

Fortunately, it wasnt the broadsides. Each broadside sh.e.l.l from a big ship was a fusion warhead. They didnt seem to come in designer shapes and sizes, either. They hammered with city-buster force or they didnt fire at all.

What fell on top of the mountain instead was a much lighter attack, but still impressive.

We saw the brilliant blue-white b.a.l.l.s falling through the mist. Bright as an arc-welders torch, they could burn retinas if you looked at them with the naked eye.

"Visors down, full shades!" I ordered. My squad hastened to comply.

I hadnt seen this kind of fire from the ships before. It was something new. But the look of plasma b.a.l.l.s was unmistakable.

They kept coming down, silent while they were in the atmosphere-but when they hit the ground and the physics effect was triggered, a resounding report rolled down the mountain.

"What are they doing?" Carlos asked me.

"As far as I can tell, theyre silencing those missile batteries. Lets hope it works."

Plasma attacks of this kind picked up smaller debris from the region affected and shot it outward in a spray like a fragmentation weapon that didnt have to bring along the fragments. Gravel, shards of ice, anything would do. They were tearing up the squids, I hoped, far up on the mountainside.

Belter contacted me. "We should advance now, while the enemy positions are under bombardment."

I felt unsure. Judging from the immediate vicinity, we werent getting hit. But if those weapons were walked downslope, and we were exposed-well, we might get taken out by our own artillery. That said, I was a new veteran and Belter was a Centurion.

"All right," I said, without voicing an objection. "Lets move out! Same formation as before, Della, turn on those shields."

We were marching upslope again less than a minute later. Huffing and puffing, the infantry raced after us.

Up ahead, we could see the blue-white flashes as the bombardment crashed down. Now and then, bits of flying debris showered down, hitting machines and men alike. But as far as I could tell, the squids werent shooting at us. They were trying to hide.

"McGill?" Leeson shouted. "What are you doing? Youre out of position!"

"Sorry sir," I said. "Centurion Belter ordered us to advance under the cover of artillery."

"She doesnt have the right! Shes not even part of Legion Varus."

"Thats an officer-fight, sir," I said, marching my machine a fraction faster. A few snap-rifle rounds were hitting my people now. They seemed to be coming from a nearby position. "Im just a vet, and this is a joint effort. I follow the orders of the officer whos walking behind me."

One problem with using multi-legion forces came to light when we performed joint missions, which had been a rare event in the past. Historically, our legions were independent rivals. Every legion was like an army from a small country-countries that didnt like each other all that much.

Technically, we were all beholden to Hegemony if push came to shove. But for nearly a century now, the individual legions hadnt had to listen to outside authority while out in the field. On this mission, wed been told the two legions would be kept separate. Therefore, this kind of thing shouldnt have come up. Id been briefed on the matter and knew that if it did, the officer on deck was in charge, as Id told Leeson.

Due to the confusion after our initial landing, wed been forced to put legions and auxiliary cohorts into one force. The bra.s.s simply hadnt foreseen this kind of situation-but in my opinion, they should have.

Cursing, Leeson broke off. I knew hed go complain to Belter or maybe to Graves or even Winslade. It wasnt my problem. I kept marching my dragon, leading Belters infantry to the next available pocket of cover.

When we got there, we discovered something shocking. The location was already occupied-by the enemy.

We realized what we were marching only when we plunged into their midst. Theyd been hunkering down, ducking the bombardment that was landing mostly higher upslope. This group must have been one of the lowest posted enemy concentrations on the mountain.

There were about fifty squids, all armed with snap-rifles and wearing that scaled combat-armor Id seen on Dust World. It was thin, but tougher than it looked.

"Enemy contact!" I shouted, cluing in Leeson, Belter and every dragon-rider in my squad. "Use grenade launchers if youve got 'em!"

Fortunately, most of my team did. Dellas team didnt as Harris had put those spinal cannons on her machines again. The arrangement turned out to be a good one, however. Her team advanced into claw-range, blasting a few rounds from their big guns as they came. The crack and blast of the sh.e.l.ls was deafening, even through my dragons armored cha.s.sis.

Still shielded, Dellas front line absorbed most of the enemy snap-rifle fire. The squids seemed surprised and unsure how to handle our marching death-dealers. They poured automatic fire into the shielded dragons, but with little effect.

Throwing themselves p.r.o.ne at the clawed feet of the dragons, Belters infantry sprayed the squids with snap-rifles of their own.

The squid armor wasnt very effective at stopping this barrage, but squids dont die easily. Many fought on with limbs missing and dark blood pouring out of huge holes in their bodies.

Thats when my dragons got into the fight. We were armed with twin grenade launchers, and we tore them apart with the first volley. The enemy was a flopping ma.s.s of flesh after we hosed them down with grenades.

I soon called a halt to the firing, and Belters people charged in to finish the job. There was no mercy on our side. We killed every one of them.

My lips were a tight line. I might have accepted any sign of surrender-but there wasnt any. Squids didnt think like that. They probably didnt find surrender honorable, or maybe they didnt understand the concept at all. They fought to the last, even killing a few troopers by constriction when they got in close. It was a harsh lesson for our dead soldiers whod never encountered squids before. These aliens possessed a grim vitality.

After it was over, Winslade himself contacted me. I opened the connection without relish.

"Primus, sir?" I asked.

"McGill? Are you in command of that crazy group up high?"

"Uh...not exactly sir." I quickly explained that Belter was leading the infantry, and I was leading the cavalry. "Weve done rather well working as a combined-arms force, if I do say so myself."

"Belter, eh? Figures," he said. "Shes a grandstander, theres no doubt about it. So are you, for that matter. Could you be bothered to hold your position for the next several hours while more troops get up to you? No one else has advanced so far."

I checked my altimeter, and I had to admit I was surprised. We were about twenty-five hundred meters up.

"Well gladly wait for the rest of you," I said. "Belters people are exhausted, and my dragons are about out of juice."

"Understandable. Well reach you by morning. Winslade out."

Morning? This wasnt encouraging, but night was falling even as I looked around. Since Machine World had an eighteen hour day, the transition from light to dark as night fell was alarmingly fast. The same was true in dim gray light of every foggy dawn.

Just to be sure I didnt get in the middle of an argument with my officers, I contacted Leeson to inform him of Winslades orders.

"Good," he said. "Well be up to your position shortly. This business of command confusion is bulls.h.i.t."

"I was wondering about that, sir. Who exactly is in command when we have so many different groups involved?"

I knew the answer to my question, of course. Barring any special orders, the highest ranking officer present was in charge at any given post. That meant Belter could give me orders whether Leeson liked it or not. If he wanted to change her orders, he would have to find someone higher ranked or convince her she was wrong. In my opinion, he probably wouldnt have much luck in that department.

Leeson knew all this, but that didnt stop him from complaining. "Belter is in charge by default. I hope she doesnt get your dragons smashed seeking glory. Maybe if Turov hadnt been so busy making side-deals with Claver, shed have set up an appropriate chain of command."

A small hissing sound came out of me when I heard him say this. How could Leeson know about Claver and Turov? There was only one way-Graves or someone else had told him. Eventually, this leak of information would get back to Turov. Shed feel like using her broadsides on the mountain then-focused tightly on my location.

-31-.

The hours that followed were long and slow. It was cold up here. We were squatting on the side of a spire of rock that seemed to reach right past the limits of this worlds envelope of ga.s.ses. Id thought the flat plains down below had been cold, but I was wrong. Up here, there was even less to keep a man warm. It made me think of the fragility of every world. Planets were really oases in a vast frozen desert known as s.p.a.ce.

The battle went on hold around us for the time being. The legions moved upslope all night long, and several units filtered into our defensive spot. Others pa.s.sed on to take higher positions.

The enemy was maneuvering out there too, somewhere. I could feel it. They werent beaten yet, not by a long shot. They were probably hiding from our plasma artillery.

The officers called a meeting with the noncoms as night fell swiftly over the mountain. Most of our forces were made up of infantry who hadnt done much fighting yet, but theyd done more than their share of the dying.

After the events of the day were a.n.a.lyzed, the commanders had determined the obvious truth: When infantry combined with the cavalry, our formations operated more effectively. Consequently, we were told our dragons would be used to break enemy defensive locations wherever they were encountered during the rest of this campaign. The infantry would be sent in behind us to clean up.

"Thats just grand, isnt it?" Carlos asked me afterward.

I mumbled in agreement with him. Being told we were no longer a fast-moving cavalry force, that instead we were destined to become an armored shield for the infantry...well, that wasnt what anyone in Winslades cohort wanted to hear.

We set up tents that were never warm inside no matter how much hot air we pumped into them. To pa.s.s the time, I ate, slept a little and tapped on my tapper. Various people sent me notes wanting to make sure I was still breathing. Mostly, these notes came from Anne and Natasha. They made me smile even as I answered and erased them quickly, so the other girl couldnt find them later. Neither girl would be happy to see I was getting queries about my health from the other.

Kivi showed up and rudely looked over my shoulder. "Still at it, eh, McGill?" she asked.

Startled, I turned to look at her. "Just answering a few notes."

"Yeah," she said. "Heres your goodnight kiss from me."

She kissed her hand and slapped me with it. I caught her wrist and pulled her down into my lap.

Carlos brayed with laughter, and I let her go after receiving a few more slaps. She sauntered off. Her hair was disheveled but she had a smile on her face.

"Whats with you and her?" Carlos asked. "Its totally unfair, whatever it is."

"Honestly, I dont know. I have to admit, Kivi and I have a strange relationship."

"Yeah, real strange. The end result is you get to screw her and anyone else you can grab. Meanwhile, Carlos is lucky to pick up crumbs."

I shrugged. "Kivi and I do get together every now and then, but she always seems jealous of other women, while I accept her habit of entertaining any number of other men."

"Hey," Carlos said, scooting a little closer and lowering his voice. "Im hoping to get in on that action soon. You can help me out. Just dont let her have any. Not even if she begs you for it."

"What?"

"You know were working on a project, right?" he asked. "Were working together to come up with a box to control these stupid machines. Thats my in. Chicks love working on a cool project together and being told constantly how smart they are."

Shaking my head, I heaved a sigh. "Thats not how you go about it, Carlos."

"Hey, dont be a hater, McGill. Cant you share the wealth a little? Thats all Im asking for. Besides, Im just imitating you. I watch you play the ladies all day long."

"Whatever."

"Just starve her, okay?" he asked urgently. "If she comes and tries to crawl into that spider-web bag of yours tonight, push her b.u.t.t right back out again. Preferably, you should aim her in my direction."

Carlos had never been easy to like. There was something about him that was swaggering and desperate all at the same time.

"You got it," I said, which got Carlos to leave me in peace. I saw him pestering Kivi later, and sure enough they started working on some kind of gizmo together.

We called lights out soon after that, and I sank into my sleeping bag of spider silk happily. It really did keep a man warm even on this ice-ball of a planet. For once, there had been truth in advertising. Maybe the marketing man in charge had screwed up.

Id barely fallen asleep when someone actually did try to slip into my sleeping bag.

This surprised me-I mean really surprised me. Id never have thought Carlos could have been right about something like this.

"Kivi," I hissed. "What are you doing?"

"Im not Kivi."

It was Dellas voice. I felt a pang of embarra.s.sment for the mistaken ident.i.ty. But really, I shouldnt have. I mean, what the h.e.l.l was this married woman doing climbing on me in my sleep, anyway?

"Oh," I said. "Uh...whats this about, Della?"

"Ive gotten over being angry with you," she whispered back.

This had me frowning bewilderedly in the dark. I hadnt known Id done anything to make her angry, nor had I noticed that she was in such a state. What should I do now? These were new circ.u.mstances to me and presented me with a dilemma. Sure, Della and I had a past, and we were both noncoms. Fraternization should have been a no-brainer. h.e.l.l, wed even had a kid together who was some fifty lights away. But she was supposedly married, and Id just started things up with Anne, a woman Id had a thing for that went back years.

"Okay..." I said carefully. "Im glad youre not angry-whatever it was I did."

She squirmed into my spider-bag, which really wasnt big enough for two, but it stretched accommodatingly. It had been warm before, but now it was getting a little steamy.

"Are you disappointed?" she asked.

"About what?"

"That Im not Kivi?"

"No, not at all," I said.