Freya rushed off to find coffee. I already had the feeling that the captain’s shower had been preemptively canceled for the evening.

  I was dying to know what the hell was going on. I even snuck a peek at the navigational data on the computer paper—but it was no good. It was all numbers and diagrams about remote contacts.

  What had Freya and her team detected? A meteor shower that might endanger our ship?

  Captain Hansen glanced at me, then, as if noticing my presence for the first time in a long while. “You did a good job out there, Sergeant. I made the right call promoting you. Go take a break while you can—eat fast, and piss even faster. That’s my advice.”

  I nodded and turned to go, but I couldn’t stop myself from asking a question. “What are we facing now, sir? Anything Red Company should know about?”

  She eyed me for a moment, then nodded to herself. “Yes. Why not? Everyone will know soon enough, I’m afraid.”

  She rattled the computer paper at me. “It’s that frigging jackass colonel from Earth-Gov. I’m sure of it. Freya detected his cruisers coming toward us from the backside of Jupiter.”

  My jaw sagged open. “All six of them? The whole squadron?”

  She nodded. She looked bitter. “Just think, we were having tea and biscuits out there with Redgrave, talking peace deals, all the while earth cruisers were sneaking in closer. Wisely, they’re making their approach out of the line of sight.”

  “But… they can’t get all the way to Ganymede that way, can they? Won’t they have to expose their ships to fire from Redgrave’s warp cannon at some point?”

  “I would think so, yes. Even if they hide in the shadow of one moon after another—they can’t get all the way here without exposing themselves at all… but they’ll get close. Then… things are going to get ugly.”

  “We’ll be caught in the middle…” I said. “We’ll be at ground zero, whatever happens.”

  Suddenly, Captain Hansen lost her cool. Her expression darkened, and she clenched her fists in frustration. “Damn it! If that’s true, we’ll be caught right in the middle of the fight. We were sent here to negotiate, not to become cannon fodder.”

  I shook my head. “I’m sorry, Captain. It seems Earth-Gov may have used us as bait—just as Redgrave suspected. It’s a mean trick, but we’ll have to play with the cards we’ve been dealt.”

  She dismissed me then, and I rushed away toward headquarters. I was glad she hadn’t told me to keep quiet about all this—because I wouldn’t have been able to do it.

  If Redgrave decided to take revenge on Borag, the marines were all that stood in his way.

  Chapter 24: Diplomacy Fails

  I woke with a start. Lt. Quinn was talking over the intercom directly into my ear. “Starn, we’ve got a situation. Mutants are pouring out of the mountain and heading our way. Red Company is mobilizing. Scramble to the main doors!”

  Blinking away sleep from my eyes, I threw on my gear as fast as I could. I stumbled at the head of my squad, out of our quarters and into the passageways. By this time, there were flashers spinning and alarms going off. Everyone was up and kicking recruits onto the deck.

  My team joined the rest of Red Company. We moved out of the largest airlock and jogged down long ramps to the dusty surface of Ganymede. Lt. Quinn was already out there, and he was directing troops to take cover. We took up firing positions outside Borag—just in case.

  Captain Hansen showed up when we were set up among the clusters of boulders that stood here and there around the ship. She came down the ramp and stood tall—as tall as she could, anyway.

  Her steely gaze was locked upon an approaching horde of mutants. She contacted me personally and asked for me to attend her—this felt odd and was a bit surprising.

  Usually, she had me on hand as a bodyguard when she was worried about her own crewmembers shooting her in the back—did she think someone might try such a thing today?

  I looked around, and I saw Commander Kaine nearby. He didn’t look happy—but then, none of us did. Who liked the idea of being rushed by hundreds of angry mutants?

  I took my place by her side. My laser carbine was fully charged and ready.

  Lt. Quinn was handing out orders to everyone. “I don’t want to see anything other than a helmet or a laser emitter! Don’t fire until they make their move!”

  Essentially, he had my troops hiding in the rocks. If the mutants were going to start this, his job was to put out enough firepower to cover the captain’s retreat back into the ship.

  Captain Hansen spoke to me privately. “We knew this was coming, Starn. We’re caught in the middle of a power struggle, and Earth has played us for fools.”

  I nodded silently, my eyes scanning the approaching mutants. They swarmed out from the base of the mountain, a chaotic mass of twisted limbs and alien weaponry. “Do you think they know about the Earth ships?”

  Captain Hansen’s gaze didn’t waver from the approaching mutants. “It sure looks that way, doesn’t it?”

  The two armies stared each other down. For a few minutes, no shots were fired, but everyone knew it would take only a single spark to set off a firefight.

  I kept looking toward my squad. It was one thing to be babysitting the captain aboard ship, but out here, I had another job to do. Hansen noticed my distraction. She turned to me. “It looks like they’re not going to start shooting immediately. Go back to your men.”

  Trotting away, I slid into the cluster of stones that hid my troops. This spot had been designated “the northern firebase” although it wasn’t much more than a circle of rocks with some sandbags thrown in between them.

  “All right, 3rd Squad, the northern firebase is our baby to defend,” I said. “No mutants are going to get past this flank to Borag.”

  Everyone stayed low and eyed the rocky terrain surrounding us. Most of the time, our eyes were fixed upon the countless mutants that were pouring down from the hills and surrounding Borag. We dearly wanted to fire on them—but the officers were still hoping to talk their way out of this. I hoped they weren’t allowing the enemy to gain position on us for nothing.

  “Get our heavy laser bolt machine gun set up and check the range on those plasma mortars—no! Don’t fire them, you idiot! Use the ranging software!”

  Pvt. Jenkins carefully loaded our machine gun’s power cells. The hum of the weapon’s energy built up fast. Cpl. Ramirez adjusted the aim of the plasma mortars, his hands steady and confident. The rest of the squad checked their rifles. The sound of a dozen weapons systems powering up and going through their automatic testing was reassuring.

  As we prepared for battle, the mutants continued to gather. Their numbers swelled to several hundred—maybe more. But unlike our concentrated, organized placement, their positions were chaotic. Essentially, they formed a menacing circle around the ship.

  “Starn?” Cpl. Ramirez called, his voice barely audible over the din of the machines. “We’re all set here. Mortars are good to go.”

  I nodded. My optical units and tiny exploratory drones kept eyes on the surrounding scene. “Good… Keep your drones up and your heads down, guys. We don’t know what they’re planning, but we’re ready for them now.”

  Pvt. Jenkins reported in next. “Laser bolt machine gun is ready, too, Sergeant!”

  “Excellent,” I replied.

  After that, it was all done except for the waiting. That was the worst part, of course. Crouched in a cluster of boulders that formed our makeshift firebase, we listened intently to the tactical chatter over our comms.

  “Starn, this is Kaine. Redgrave is sending one of his officers to talk to our officers. I don’t want to see one of your fuck-ups shoot first.”

  “Won’t happen, Commander!” I responded.

  What a prick. He always figured my guys were the worst—which they kind of were, but they were getting better…

  Ledbetter spoke up next. He’d never been one to keep his thoughts to himself. “You know what this means, right? The mutants must’ve spotted those approaching Earth cruisers. Redgrave’s gotta be insanely pissed! This is it, boys! This is it!”

  I shot him a stern glare. “Shut it, Ledbetter.”

  From our vantage point, we watched as the representatives from both sides met outside Borag. The hulking mutant officer towered over Lt. Stinson. He was some kind of mouthpiece called a “liaison.” We called him “toast.”

  The mutant officer and Stinson appeared to be engaged in a heated discussion, but from our position, we couldn’t make out the words. Naturally, the squad was full of experts who second-guessed everything.

  “What d’ya think they’re saying down there?” Ledbetter whispered over our squad channel.

  “Dunno,” Michaels replied, “but it doesn’t look good. Stinson’s got that pinched look on his face officers get when they need to take an immediate shit.”

  “Yeah…” Ramirez added, “I wouldn’t be surprised if the mutants are demanding our surrender or something.”

  Ledbetter, never one to pass up an opportunity to push things to the next level, grew restless. “You know, I’ve got a clear shot at that mutant bastard from here. Maybe we should take him out while we have the chance.”

  I fixed him with a glare, trying to maintain the calm that was slowly slipping away from everyone out here. “Ledbetter, I told you to shut up. We don’t know what’s going on yet, and the last thing we need is to start a firefight that could get us all killed.”

  Ledbetter got another bright idea less than sixty seconds later. “I think I see Redgrave!” he said. “See him? That’s his big, clanky ass over there in that clump of rocks.”

  “I don’t see him.”

  “He’s right there, listening in, plotting… maybe we should do something about it, Starn.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like… you know… We could drop a mortar shell on him. One plasma mortar shot—that’s all it would take. I’ve got her all lined up, in fact… If we took Redgrave right the fuck out, we could win this easy. The rest of his army of freaks would run off, I bet.”

  “What if they don’t run?” I asked him. “What if they get really pissed and tear you apart instead?”

  Ledbetter shrugged. He couldn’t deny the possibility.

  “We’re following our orders,” I told him firmly.

  As the conversation between the big mutant and Lt. Stinson continued, Ledbetter just wouldn’t let it go. “Come on, Starn. We could end this whole thing right now. One shot, and he’s done for.”

  I finally snapped, glaring at him. “Shut the fuck up, Ledbetter. That’s an order. If you can’t follow it, I’ll make sure you’re the one who ends up done for.”

  He shook his head in disgust, but he finally backed off, swallowing hard. “Okay, okay. Whatever. You’re in charge, Sergeant...”

  He looked ornery, like he was plotting something, but he said nothing more. That was enough for me right now.

  We were just about to get bored when, in a flash, the situation went from tense to deadly. The massive mutant suddenly lost his mind. In a horrifying display of raw strength, he tore Lt. Stinson’s head right off, helmet and all. We were shocked, but only for a moment.

  “Open fire!” I roared. The order had barely left my lips before 3rd Squad sprang into action.

  The heavy laser Gatling gun roared to life, spewing out a thousand laser bolts that shredded the air. In seconds, the mutant diplomat was reduced to a disintegrated heap, his defiance and the gruesome trophy of Stinson’s head obliterated.

  As the sound of our guns echoed across the barren landscape, it became obvious that diplomacy had failed. There was no going back now—the battle for Ganymede had begun, and we were right in the middle of it.

  Chapter 25: The Siege

  The motley crew of pirates and cyborgs was in position by this time. They returned fire from every direction at once. We were forced to crawl on our bellies and take potshots at the enemy. We were surrounded and outnumbered—badly.

  Captain Hansen and her officers took cover. I saw her return fire with her pistol, her jaw was set stubbornly. Lt. Quinn shouted and pointed toward the ramps. His frustration was evident.

  “The captain has to get back inside Borag,” I said, half to myself.

  Right then, as the first shots rang out from our position, the ship’s automated anti-personnel cannons burst into life. They swung into action with mechanical precision, their targeting systems zeroing in on the mutants hiding among the rocks and crags around Borag. The cannons unleashed a hailstorm of high-caliber rounds, tearing through the air with a deafening roar.

  The mutants, taken aback by the sudden onslaught, scrambled for cover. Their initial surprise didn’t last long, though. They quickly recovered and began returning fire. A barrage lashed both Red Company and Borag. Lasers and bullets zipped back and forth through the air. It was chaos.

  We were at close range, and the battle was brutal. Amidst the noise and destruction, Borag’s anti-personnel cannons wreaked havoc. The big guns laid down devastating fire that kept the mutants ducking.

  As for the captain and her knot of officers, they were on the run. They took their first opportunity to race back into the ship. They ran up those long ramps like their lives depended on it—because they probably did.

  “Dammit,” Hayes yelled as he ducked behind a rock, narrowly avoiding a laser bolt that left a scorch mark on the ground where he’d been crouching moments before. “We’re taking fire from three directions, Starn!”

  I nodded, knowing he was right, but unsure how to fix things. We were outnumbered and the mutants had managed to encircle Borag.

  Before I could come up with anything like a plan, a thunderous boom echoed across the battlefield as another of Borag’s external guns came to life. This one fired heavy shells, rather than a spray of laser bolts. Heavy fire rained down on the enemy’s positions, obliterating them.

  “We’re not going to last out here,” Ledbetter told me. “We’re pinned down, Sergeant—get us out of here!”

  To prove his point, bolts spanged and flashed, melting smoking holes into the rocks around us. We weren’t doing much more than ducking at this point. We kept returning fire, but it was mostly blind-firing at the surrounding enemy.

  Talking into my comms channel, I made the call. “Lt. Quinn! 3rd Squad is under heavy fire from all directions! Requesting assistance!”

  There was a short delay, as Quinn was no doubt also under bombardment, not only from angry mutants but a dozen other similar calls.

  The air around us crackled with energy. Laser bolts were raining down on Red Company, and our cluster of rocks in particular.

  Quinn’s response came in at last. “3rd Squad—prepare to fall back to the primary ramp. Don’t withdraw until I give you the green light.”

  “Holy shit, we’re going to die out here before they get their act together!” Marek complained.

  No one argued with him, as it was a distinct possibility. One would have thought our officers were hard at work planning for this situation when the big mutant and the unfortunate Lt. Stinson had had their little powwow—but we would have thought wrong. They’d probably been straining to listen in to the talk just as we were.

  Over the next several minutes, Jones caught one in the glove, blasting his pinkie clean off. The rest of the men were pretty much suppressed, hugging the alien dirt as hard as they could. Rarely, we took some shots back at the enemy, but it was hard to get organized. We were too heavily outnumbered, and the shots were coming in from every possible angle.

  It was Borag’s big guns that were doing all the real work. They were tracking and blasting with mechanical regularity. I could tell the operators had turned on the AI and let it have its head. The guns were acquiring targets and engaging in rapid succession. They were keeping the enemy ducking as much as we were.

  Finally, the order to withdraw came in. “Sergeant Stark, bring your team home. Move out, now. You’ve got a ninety-second window, according to the software.”

  All the guns overhead swung to our quadrant and began raining hell on every mutant who’d ever had the balls to fire a shot at us. That was suppressive fire, the big guns working to cover our retreat.

  Unfortunately, ninety seconds wasn’t really enough time. We had to crawl out of our makeshift “firebase” first. After that, we only stood up long enough to run in a doubled-over crouch to the base of the ramp.

  Once we were outside that ring of friendly rocks, we took a few shots despite the best efforts of the auto-cannons. We reached the ramp with forty seconds to go—but it was a long-ass ramp. Some men, like Welks and Merek, vaulted from the ground to the ramp. It wasn’t a bad move, as everyone could jump like a lemur on Ganymede.

  The bad thing was a jumping man wasn’t always in perfect control. Merek, my resident screw-up, crashed right into Ledbetter. Both men went spinning back down to crash into the hard ground.

  I managed to grab Ledbetter by the pack and haul his ass back up onto the ramp. “Thanks, Starn,” he said, and he kept rushing up the ramp on all fours.

  Merek wasn’t so lucky. He hit Ledbetter, bounced off, then crashed back down onto the surface of Ganymede. He got back up again at least, and I considered jumping down after him.

  Ledbetter knew me well. We were almost inside the doors, and he grabbed my shoulder. “Don’t do it, Sergeant. Don’t waste a good sergeant on the worst man in the squad.”

  Gritting my teeth, I nodded. Ledbetter was right, but I felt a certain degree of responsibility for all my men. It was hard to leave them to their deaths.

  As it was, I was the second to the last man of 3rd Squad to return to the safety of Borag’s big, armored doorway. Marek was dead last.

  He was really trying. He was limping, and I wasn’t sure if that was from taking a shot in the ass or having been injured in that fall—it didn’t matter. He wasn’t going to make it before time was up.

  Already, the auto-cannons were swinging to a new quadrant. No doubt, they were going to force another horde of mutants to duck while someone else staged a retreat.