Kivi climbed onto my couch without asking. She scooted across it until she b.u.mped her hip into mine.

"Oh yes," she said, "the view from here is much better. Now, tell an old girlfriend what this is all about."

"What if I dont want to?"

"Then Ill have to guess."

I shrugged. "Go for it."

"Okay. Lets see... Natasha always has believed deep down that youre her private property. And Della...well, that girl is just plain crazy. I can see plenty of ways that a man might get caught between those two and yet shut out by both."

I liked Kivi, and I liked how she felt all warm and vital laying there next to me. But her words were starting to make me feel a little uncomfortable. I squirmed a bit. I couldnt help it.

"Whats wrong?" she demanded. "The McGill I know wouldve grabbed me by now. Oh my G.o.d..."

Frowning, I turned to look at her. Her eyes were wide and they searched mine intently.

"Its true, isnt it?" she asked.

"Whats true?"

"Id heard rumors. Someone told me Della is pregnant. Its got to be something like that. The James McGill Ive always known would of moved on by now to find another girl if it was anything less."

I shook my head and smiled ruefully. "Wrong," I said. "Shes not pregnant. She already had the baby."

Kivis mouth fell open comically wide. She punched me then, right in the gut. I grunted and grabbed her small fist before she could do it again.

"What kind of an a.s.shole are you, James?" she demanded in a harsh whisper. Her mood had shifted as quickly as an autumn wind-but that was Kivi for you.

"Why are people always asking me that?" I wondered aloud.

She scooted away from me about a foot and crossed her arms over her ample b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

"So," she said, "let me guess how this happened. Back on Dust World you met Della, screwed her, and left her there. Now, shes out here in s.p.a.ce trying to make a living training out legions to use these dragons while your kid is back on Dust World growing up alone."

"You make it sound like I did this as part of some kind of evil plan. Well, I didnt. She was the one who wanted to get pregnant. She chased me on Dust World for that express purpose. Now I find out Ive got a kid, and I dont quite know what to do about it."

Kivi was quiet for maybe ten seconds. To be honest with you, it was kind of nice.

"It was her idea?" she asked suddenly. "The getting pregnant part, I mean?"

"Yeah, sure. Think about it. Those colonists were living separated from Earth with a limited gene pool. To their way of thinking procreating with new humans was almost a duty."

Kivi nodded thoughtfully. She scooted back toward me and threw one leg over mine. I jumped a bit reflexively not quite knowing where she was going with this.

But then she kissed me, and I figured it out. The winds had shifted back the other way.

We made out on the observation deck as I hadnt done for years. Kivi, as Ive said before, is not a shy girl. Even though we were in semi-darkness, I didnt quite feel comfortable with some of the things she did while climbing over me on that couch. But itd been a while since Id made love to a woman, so I let her open our tops and kiss me pa.s.sionately.

At one point, I heard some giggling off to my left. I put a gentle hand on Kivis cheek and lifted her face away from my neck.

"How about we go someplace else?"

"Screw them," she said hotly. "Its nothing they havent seen before."

"Yeah well, were giving them a live show, here."

She made a frustrated sound and hopped up off the couch. She tugged on my hand until I followed her. There were more whispers and giggles from the dark around us as we left the observation deck.

I figured she would want to go to Green Deck, but we didnt make it that far. When Kivi gets hot, she gets really hot.

We made love in an ammo storage compartment. The metal containers were unevenly surfaced cold planes against bare skin, but Kivi didnt seem to care. After a while, neither did I.

-11-.

When we arrived at Gamma Pavonis, we came down directly from above the local plane of the ecliptic. In other words, instead of moving from one planet to the next, getting closer and closer to the central star, we dove straight down toward the target worlds northern pole.

It was no secret we were coming. Three Imperial capital ships, dreadnaughts all, cant hide on approach. Once we turned off the Alcubierre drive and transformed from glowing blue-white spheres of light into what looked like a trio of comets with hundred-kilometer long plumes of exhaust, any alien watching the scene would have to be blind not to know what was coming next.

The good news was that they couldnt have detected us until we came out of our warp bubbles. As I understood it from the techs, we were technically visible as a bubble of light while the drive was active, but since that effect was moving faster than the speed of light in relative terms, there was no time for the light thus produced to reach the eyes of anyone watching. We were, effectively, out-running our own shadows.

But once we turned off the big drives-well, that was it. There isnt much in s.p.a.ce to occlude the view of a sensor, and any kind of traditional engine produces heat, light and other energy readings that were very visible. I wasnt sure what kind of sensors the squids might have, but I was pretty sure they knew we were coming in hot.

About the squids-I had no doubt that they were at least watching this system. If both the Empire and their Kingdom were interested, they had to have a survey team out here at the very least. I said as much to Natasha, who gave me a look then sighed and answered civilly.

"Youre right," she said. "Youve got to be right, if you think about it. They will have seeded this system with sensors and listening posts. We only hope that they didnt-"

That was as far as she got. An alarm went off. It wasnt a ship-wide klaxon, but it was a flashing yellow-orange bar on her tapper. She looked at it then glanced at me in alarm.

"Ive got to go," she said.

"Whats wrong?"

"Theyre summoning all the techs to battle stations."

She looked scared, and I didnt blame her.

"Whats going on?" I asked her. "Should we be preparing for action?"

"I dont know. Follow your tapper and the arrows on the deck. You know the drill."

She turned to go, but I put a hand on her shoulder. I gave her a hug-no kiss, no rude squeezes, just a friendly hug. After stiffening up for a second, she relaxed, hugged me back and wished me luck. She left smiling.

I watched her race off down the pa.s.sage toward the weapons deck. There were arrows now, just like shed said. Green ones meant tech-only. Those lit up first and stayed lit, glowing on the deck plates.

As I walked farther down the pa.s.sages and ramps, the red arrows lit up. Red indicated combat arms, which meant me. I watched, but the other colors stayed dark. Blue was for bios, in case of a medical emergency. Golden arrows meant everyone should follow them, and they were usually reserved for abandoning the ship.

The way shipboard actions worked on an Imperial vessel was, well-odd. The Skrull who crewed the ships werent allowed to fire the weapons systems. In Frontier 921, only humans were licensed-literally-to fight in star system beyond their own. Because of this, a tech like Natasha was invaluable because she had the skills required to run the ships sensors and operate the broadsides in a battle.

Natasha herself was not part of my dragon-riding squad. Shed failed to impress the bra.s.s while operating a combat machine. She just didnt have the killer instinct, or at least not enough of it to satisfy Graves and the rest. But she was a good tech, so theyd decided keep her aboard Cyclops to operate the guns if we needed them.

Watching Natasha vanish around a corner, I decided not to wait around for the bra.s.s to deploy us. I knew the battle decisions were being made right here aboard Cyclops. Of the three ships, this one had the smallest complement of troops as it only housed the cavalry. For that reason Turov had brought her command staff here and had taken over Gold Deck, making it her operations center for the entire task force.

Knowing my fate was being decided by staffers up on Gold Deck didnt make me happy. Sometimes, it seemed like the officers treated us like hamsters in cages. They ignored us until it was time to give us orders, then provided arrows and instructions a moron could follow. They only noticed failure after that-or that we werent moving fast enough.

I trotted after the red arrows to my squadrons prep room. We didnt have a formal service deck, not yet, but we had our own section of the module with bunks all around and a row of tough polymer crates that enclosed our dragons.

"All right, listen up!" I shouted, slamming my hands together.

It was gratifying to see troops hop off their bunks and gather around. Even Carlos hustled, and when I had everyones attention I went into my routine.

"Were going to prep up like this is a hot action. We havent gotten the official call yet, so dont wet your pants, but who knows? It could come at any time."

"Is this a boarding action, Vet?" demand Carlos excitedly.

I smiled. "We can only hope. I would like nothing better than to meet up with a pack of squids while riding these sweet machines."

The others echoed my sentiments. Wed been training for more than a month, and we were itching to try out our new equipment on an honest-to-G.o.d enemy.

We dressed in thin smart-suits not unlike those Id worn as a light trooper. They were vacuum-tight in a pinch, but really, it was like wearing a garbage bag. If our dragons failed us, wed probably die fast.

Opening up the crates, we coaxed out our machines and climbed over them, checking gauges and- Wham! A tremendous sound rang through the ship. I knew that sound. There was only one thing that could have caused it.

"Broadsides have fired!" I shouted. "Be on your toes, we must be in fleet action!"

"This is bulls.h.i.t," Carlos said, picking himself up and trying to get his machine into a squatting stance for mounting. "They should tell us whats going on!"

"If we need to know something, well be told," I said firmly with a conviction that I didnt feel. I knew from long a.s.sociation with the legions that the bra.s.s was perfectly capable of forgetting about ground troops in the belly of a transport. In fact, if they figured it would be easier to let us all die and be revived later, they might well engineer our deaths for the sheer convenience of it.

But I was a veteran now. I wasnt supposed to whine or complain. I was supposed to rea.s.sure those who did. It felt a little odd, but I thought I could get used to it.

Finally, someone felt the urge to tell us what the h.e.l.l was going on outside our ships hull. A voice and a face appeared on one wall. It was none other than Primus Winslade.

"Troops," he said, looking a little fl.u.s.tered. "Cyclops, Minotaur and Pegasus are in action. Weve met up with unexpected resistance. There appears to be some kind of fortification on the smallest of the target worlds three moons. The moment we exited warp and showed ourselves, this moon fired missiles at us. Theyre currently inbound. Everyone is to prep their equipment and march to the lifters. I want my cohort off this ship and in transit now!"

Winslade sounded nervous. He didnt say how many missiles or what kind of warheads they had. He probably didnt know.

Carlos slapped my shoulder. "Hey, do you realize whats going to happen if those missiles get through our defenses and blow up one of these ships? Thats it. Permed! A whole legion. Or maybe it will be our lucky turn to get cleaned out. After all this training, too. I want-"

"Shut up, Ortiz!" I boomed. I realized I should have said those words about a full minute back, but I was a little slow sometimes. I wasnt used to being the veteran. "Get your rig walking-with you inside of it!"

Everyone went back to prepping their machines. About ninety seconds later, I rolled up the big bay exit door, and we went clanking down the pa.s.sageway toward the lifters.

Red arrows lit up the floor. That was us-combat arms. I hoped theyd load up the rest of our support people, too. We needed everyone on this drop.

I didnt even bother to look back to see if the rest of the dragons were following me. If they werent stomping after me with their tails lashing, well, they could die in the module with the bio people.

Wham!

The broadsides had fired another salvo. I was nearly thrown off my artificial feet. Servos whined, and I drew a three-clawed gash on the closest metal wall. But I stayed up and marching. My team was behind me, and I could see there were no stragglers. My HUD showed they were all there-a row of wicked marching machines right behind me.

Among all the squads to reach the lifters, we were third. I felt proud. Veteran Harris was there ahead of me, however. He gave my team a glance but didnt nod or wave. He looked like he smelled something foul.

Leeson waved me closer. He was inside one of the dragons as well. His claw-arm looked strange as he made a human-like gesture. I hurried and clanked up to him.

"Good job, McGill," he said. "Youre right on time. Well be the first lifter to abandon this ship if Toros platoon gets down here."

Graves came clanking in next. I thought he looked uncomfortable in his dragon. He didnt ride it, it rode him.

"This d.a.m.ned thing fell on its nose when the broadsides fired the second time," he complained. "Where the h.e.l.l is Toro?"

Leeson threw up his grippers. "Shes late."

The broadsides boomed a third time, and about one second later, Toro and her team arrived. She was leading all of them with her two veterans right behind her. I recognized Johnson and Gonzales. I wondered how glad they were to lay eyes on me.

"About time, Toro," Graves said. "Get your machines secured. Were dropping."

"Sir?" Leeson said. "The pilot wants to know if we can fly. The missiles, sir-"

"Tell him to decouple in twenty seconds. Positions, everyone!"

We dropped our visors all around, and we backed our machines into the hanging clamps that were supposed to secure us during flight. Moments later the floor became the wall, and then it became the ceiling.

About half of Toros group wasnt ready. Their machines went sliding and crashing across the deck, slamming in a pile-up against the hull a hundred meters down. Some managed to grab onto things with their grippers, and a crewman was crushed.

"Toro, dammit," Graves fumed. "Get your people under control!"

"We must be in trouble out there," Leeson said, grunting and hanging on to his clamps with his grippers. "Whats the word from Winslade?"

"There isnt any," Graves answered.

I noticed Leeson hadnt moved an inch during the inversion. He was using his grippers to hang on, like they were arms. He instinctively hadnt trusted his clamps. I thought that was a pretty good idea, and privately ordered my squad to do the same. Pretty soon, every machine in sight was hanging on for dear life.

The lifter righted itself after about a minute. We pulled hard Gs during a slewing turn, then there came that undeniable feeling of falling at high speed. My stomach was in my mouth, and my heart was pounding in my ears.

Could Cyclops have been hit? What about Natasha and the rest? I didnt know anything except that I was about to land on an alien world I hadnt even had the time to lay eyes on yet.

"Hey, McGill," Carlos said. "Im sorry, I mean Vet. Look at this stream-Ill pipe it to your tapper."

He sent me a streaming feed. Lord only knew how hed gotten access to it. The image was grainy, and it skipped and fuzzed out now and then, but the scene was unmistakable.

Three ships hung over a gray-white, mist-clad world. Distantly, a moon of dark rock floated. It was covered in puffing explosions. Were those our strikes or more missiles firing up from the moon base? It was hard to tell, but I figured it was our own broadside sh.e.l.ls slamming home. Id seen them strike before, and their power was daunting. Whatever missile base was firing on us was sure to be toast with three of these ships hammering at it.

The one worrying thing, however, was displayed as the view shifted. I realized then that the vid was from someone aboard our lifter. Probably a tech whod released a buzzer and had it fly to a porthole. Buzzers were insect-sized drones that were often used for scouting or even spying by legion techs.

One of the three capital ships was on fire. It was Pegasus, Solstice Legions transport. Normally, fire wasnt possible in s.p.a.ce, but with the released oxygen escaping with other ga.s.ses, she was a briefly lit torch. Shed been hit-hit bad. My heart sank to see that.

Out of the bottom of Pegasus, tiny capsules were firing like bullets. Hundreds of them shot out as if the ship was bombarding the planet below.