"What is it, McGill?"

"Why are there two other ships following Minotaur, sir? Are we heading out with three legions this time?"

"Close," he said. "There are two full legions on this trip, Varus and Solstice. In addition, we have a third ship with extra equipment and an auxiliary cohort for each legion."

I frowned at this answer. I recalled the Solstice regular whod yelled at me at the smart-door yesterday. It made sense that Solstice was going with us, as theyd been visible all over the Mustering Hall, too. But auxiliaries? Where had they come from?

Although Id never gone through the process before, I knew that joining up with other legions and auxiliary cohorts was SOP for special missions. A full cohort of techs, for example, was useful when handling engineering projects or drone-based units. Bio cohorts were known to exist as well, on hand in case we were tasked with giving aid to an alien world with a rampaging pandemic. Our people were especially sought after under such circ.u.mstances as humans couldnt catch a disease that had evolved to kill an alien form of life. Such missions were considered cakewalks, however, and I doubted Varus would be treated to any such easy task. From what Equestrian Nagata had indicated, this was going to be a rough campaign.

"Then can I ask-" I began, but Graves cut me off.

"No. Shut up, McGill." He looked away from me and ran his eyes over the a.s.sembled unit. "Now that were up and flying, I can tell you our destination. Were going to Gamma Pavonis, a white F-Cla.s.s star a little larger than our own Sol."

We looked from one to another, confused. I couldnt recall ever having heard of such a star before.

"Thats right," Graves said, taking in our baffled looks, "were heading off the charts this time. This star is over thirty lights out from Earth in a new direction. To the best of our knowledge, weve never been there before. Lets join the Imperators briefing channel."

Imperator Turovs face flashed up on the wall behind him. The entire wall was made up of photosensitive organic LEDs, and they made her image glow with life. This was the first time Id see Galina Turovs new, younger self magnified. She really was a sight for sore eyes.

For about a minute, she fooled with her tapper. Finally, she looked up.

"Commanders," she said, "please signal the last few units that its time to connect to my channel."

She looked down again, waiting.

During this warm-up time, Natasha had been eyeing me rather than Turov. Natasha had been placed near me as we were both specialists and accordingly had been a.s.signed to a front row spot.

I stared up at Imperator Turov expressionlessly. Sure, I wanted to smile about those lips which shed glossed up. Each lip had to be thicker than a mans arm on that huge screen, but I didnt dare show interest. Natasha and I had an on-again, off-again thing going, and I knew that if she caught me grinning at Turov Id be in the "off-again" stage indefinitely.

"Do you think shes doing this on purpose?" Natasha asked me.

"Doing what?"

Looking disgusted she nodded toward the screen. "Making us watch her. She has a captive audience of about twenty five thousand right now, and shes not even making a speech."

"Oh, that," I said. "I dont know. Im kind of hungry. I could really use some breakfast about now."

This was not total bulls.h.i.t, but it was pretty close. I was hungry, but I could probably watch Turovs little pre-game show for another ten minutes before I got bored with it.

Finally, the Imperator got on with the briefing.

"Good morning troops. I will attempt to answer all your questions at once with this briefing. Were moving out today, not as a hired mercenary band, but rather as an organized force representing Earth. Our contracts have been paid by Hegemony, using Galactic credits. Ive been chosen to lead this campaign personally by my superiors because of my intimate knowledge of our true enemy."

Frowning, I absorbed her words. Our true enemy? She could only mean the squids.

"Renegade forces abound along the fringe of the Empire. Frontier 921, being at the edge of explored galactic s.p.a.ce, naturally borders dangerous barbarians. One such untamed tribe calls itself the Kingdom of the Cephalopods."

I glanced at Natasha. She was frowning, too. We were both worried. Id been holding out a thin hope wed been a.s.signed one of those easy escort-missions Id heard so much about since I was a kid. Instead, this looked like we were marching to war-real war. At least Natasha seemed to have gotten over the idea that Turov was flirting with everyone.

"The target worlds atmosphere is somewhat similar to that of Earth. Its made up primarily of nitrogen, about seventy-five percent, with an oxygen content just under ten percent. Thats where the similarities end, however. The worlds surface is made up of an icy frost of methane and bubbling petroleum byproducts. There are lakes and even small seas of liquid methane-but very little water."

"Sounds like a real garden," I said quietly.

"Sounds like an ice-ball," Natasha said. "It must be if theres liquid methane."

"Sounds like you two need to learn when to shut the h.e.l.l up," Harris said from behind us.

We both straightened up and stared at the giant Turov on the forward wall.

"The surface temperature varies between minus one-fifty and minus two hundred degrees C," she continued.

I winced. An ice-ball indeed.

"Interestingly," the giant face went on, "science tells us there might be some kind of life on this world producing the oxygen in the atmosphere. If so, this life must be quite alien and subsist by using methane as a primary energy source. The cloud layer is so thick that photosynthesis, as we understand it, is probably impossible."

The world she was painting in my mind was an unpleasant one: Frozen, with deadly substances everywhere. The air might be breathable if we filtered it and warmed it up by a few hundred degrees, but that was about it.

"The reason were interested in this planet is strategic," Turov continued. "Galactic Intel tells us that the cephalopods are probing this world and maybe building an advance base there as its close to Empire s.p.a.ce. Their strategic goals are easy to discern. The world is mineral rich. Metals and radioactives are plentiful."

That made more sense to me. If the target world could be used to build ships and weapons right on the border, both sides would want the planet.

Turov continued her lecture. "If there is an indigenous population, its probably primitive and negligible. We will arrive with three ships and two legions. Any cephalopod forces will be eliminated if they refuse to vacate the system."

This caused me a pang. Sure, the Nairbs had blown up one of their worlds when theyd attacked our ship, Corvus. And later, Id personally had a hand in destroying their ship when they attacked a megahab full of Tau civilians on Tech World.

But this was different. Wed be invading, striking first. As far as the squids were concerned, I was pretty sure they figured this planet was theirs for the taking. Interfering with that using Earths legions-well, I hoped the hog bra.s.s knew what they were doing.

"On to the last item of todays agenda," Turov continued. "Legion Solstice, Legion Varus, I would like to introduce you to two new cohorts. Theyre both cavalry units from Zeta Herculis."

That got our attention. I hadnt known what to expect, but two cohorts of specialized troops from Zeta Herculis? That had to be d.a.m.ned near the bottom of the probability chart for me.

Zeta Herculis, better known as Dust World, was Earths one and only colony. Wed been allowed to keep it on a technicality. Normally, civilizations in the Empire were permitted to inhabit only a single star system. But since wed colonized this lonely, dry planet back before the Empire had discovered us, wed been "grandfathered in."

"These two auxiliary cohorts do include some colonial troops," Turov said. "Theyll be attached to your existing legions. Cross-training will take place on the third ship, Cyclops, as theres plenty of open s.p.a.ce available on her decks."

"I bet there is," I said quietly.

Natashas eyes snapped toward me, and I shut up immediately. Romance-wise, this might be yet another bad turn. Id taken an interest in one of the colonists on Dust World, years back. Her name was Della, and Id probably never had a stranger relationship in my lifetime. Including Natasha and Turov, that made this a potential three-girl situation, and Im simply not equipped to handle that kind of pressure.

"I will now list off the units I want transferred to Cyclops for immediate cross-training."

Turov began to read off various unit designations from one cohort or another. Units from both Varus and Solstice were specified. There were quite a few of them.

I finally noticed Natasha was staring at me.

"What?" I asked her.

"I know what youre thinking."

"You do?"

"Yes. Dont play that dumb-guy thing with me. Youre thinking about Della."

"Who?"

She made a disgusted sound.

"Oh yeah, Della," I said as if just recalling the name. "That crazy colonist chick. Do you know she killed me twice back on Dust World?"

"Then why do you still want to see her?"

I shook my head, baffled. "Wheres this coming from?" I demanded. "Shes probably not even on that ship-I mean, what are the odds?"

"Pretty good. She was one of their top fighters."

Candidly, I had to agree with her, but there was no percentage in admitting that. I laughed quietly instead.

"Natasha, get real! That girl is fifty lights away-and anyway, why do you care so much? Do you want to start going out with me again?"

"Certainly not."

I tried not to smile, but I failed. I knew she wanted to go out. Why the h.e.l.l else would she care so much about the ghost of Della, someone who probably wasnt even- "Legion Varus, 3rd Cohort, 3rd Unit," Turov announced.

It could have been my imagination, but I thought maybe the Imperator had given the camera a little flickering smile as she listed my unit designation.

"I dont believe it," Natasha said. "That b.i.t.c.h."

"Whats wrong?" I asked. "She said well train with auxiliary cavalry, right? That sounds pretty cool."

"Not if it was her idea. Not if she picked us off the list for this special a.s.signment. Didnt you see her smirk at the camera? Were doomed."

I shook my head. Natasha could be overly dramatic sometimes.

-7-.

The flotilla dropped out of warp near an orange-looking K-cla.s.s star system encircled by lifeless worlds. Before we went back into warp, my unit was transferred off Minotaur and onto Cyclops. The ships were all armed Imperial transports, so they looked pretty much the same. Cyclops had the same bulbous hull and a full broadside of sixteen big guns for armament.

The main hold of Cyclops was occupied by a stack of modules in the same manner as the other two ships. The number of modules was smaller, however, and theyd been pushed together to form a single ma.s.s about three modules high. On top of these modules was a wide, flat area about a kilometer square.

My unit was brought in first before any other unit had transferred. Marching into the hold in columns four abreast, we exited the lifters ramps and were ordered to climb up to the top of that stack of modules. We hustled, not wanting colonials to see us looking weak.

I noticed one thing along the way up stairs of steel tubing to the top: the gravity was turned on full-force. Usually while traveling in s.p.a.ce, they maintained a centrifugal force of half-gravity to keep us fit and to make it easier to get around. But today my body weighed over a hundred kilos and my kit was twice that much. Fortunately, our exoskeletal armor helped out with the load.

Once we stepped out on top of the modules, we were wowed by an unusual sight. Arrayed on this large, flat surface were long lines of fighting machines. I recognized them immediately.

"Hey," Carlos said, coming up to me with a broad grin. "I know those machines! Turov drove one of these babies when she snapped off your head back on Tech World."

"Thats right. But as I recall, she killed you first with one snip."

"Whatever."

"These look bigger," I said, marveling and stepping toward them, "and improved."

They were bigger. As we walked closer, we could see they were at least three meters tall. I bet when they stood up and were fully operational theyd be even taller. When Turov had driven a suit like this, it had been little more than a heavy-built exoskeleton wrapped around her body. These machines were more leggy. I figured right off that the pilots legs probably only went down to about the knee-joint while his hands terminated where the elbows were.

"They look like mean ostriches," Carlos said.

"No," I replied. "Id say theyre more like a small T-rex. Ostriches dont have tails that whip around or big fore claws."

"Good point. I bet getting yourself murdered by Turov while she was driving one of these suits turned you on, didnt it McGill? Youre sick."

"Im not the one who cant stop talking about it."

"Come on, lets pick out our machine and start riding!"

Carlos trotted toward the line of hulking metal vehicles. I walked after him watching them warily. They all seemed unoccupied, but one could never be too- Up and down the line, about every twentieth machine perked up when Carlos was about a hundred meters away. Carlos rapid approach faltered then stopped altogether. He glanced back at me with a worried expression.

Veteran Harris moved in front of the group. He was smiling, and right away I knew he was in on the surprise.

"Theyre quite something, arent they?" he asked with his throat mike cranked up to top volume. "Fantastic fighting machines-we call them dragons."

I walked to Carlos and slapped him. "See? I told you they werent ostriches."

He waved me away.

"Im sorry to say," Harris continued, "that these fine dragons are about to be totally wasted on a unit of sorry s.h.i.t-sacks like you. I told them not to do it, but the bra.s.s never listens to me."

"Uh..." I said in concern. "Some of those suits are occupied, Vet. Whos in there?"

"Your trainers. Zeta Herculis people. Think of them as advisors."

"They built these things?"

One of the machines started walking then. It stalked forward on its hind legs like a predatory bird. It flexed fore-claws that terminated in sharp grippers, and the tail moved on its own to balance the machine when it leaned and stepped. Twin, stubby cannons were built into the barrel-like chest. Inside the dim-lit faceplate, I could make out the vaguest outline of a human face. We felt like little kids facing a Halloween monster. Reflexively, our line of troops fell back a few steps.

"Were here to train you in the proper use and maintenance of these systems," the pilots voice boomed. The amplified voice was kind of creepy coming out of the robotic fighting vehicle. It was as if some kind of mechanical nightmare was talking to us.

None of the Varus people approached any closer.

Harris grinned. "Stand down, Scout," he said then turned back to us. "Now, this is how were going to do things today. Were going to have a little sparring contest. A full unit of Varus regulars up against-"

Already, troops around me were shifting into a fighting stance. We were no strangers to surprise drills-Varus loved them. Unfortunately, they were often deadly to the troops getting surprised.

A number of men around me unlimbered their rifles and dropped to the deck. Up and down the line of dragons, nine more had started moving. This was pure Legion Varus: training on the fly.

I took a half-second to glance over my shoulder. Just as Id thought, our officers were nowhere to be seen. Adjunct Leeson and Graves were no doubt sipping a cold one and watching this contest on a vid screen in the officers mess by now.

As a weaponeer, I knew I was critical to any chance my side had to take out these machines. By my estimation, my belcher was one of the few systems heavy enough to punch through the enemy armor.