Grendel Unit 1: Bad Day at Khor-wa (2 page)

Vic
let out a half smile as he popped the station door open, "Have a good night, sir.  My tech will turn your security system back on as soon as we leave." 

Pern stood looking through the station door into the dark parking lot, only able to make out a few small running lights.  The ground rumbled beneath as a ship's engine roared to life
and he watched the thrusters ignite against the lot's hard asphalt surface.  The rumbling grew faint as the ship ascended, moving above the station house's roof and out of Pern's sight. 

He flinched as the station's front door locked electronically
and the perimeter alarm suddenly blared back to life. 

Frank pushed the Cryndian back into the medical bed and said, "S'bal, hold still or there's nothing I can do."

"It hurts!  You people are savages!  Get away from me!"

"Hold still or I'll tear off the other one and feed it to you!" Monster roared. 

The
Cryndian collapsed back on the bed and sobbed, clutching his face with his remaining hand until blue tears squirted over the top of the webbing.  "I'm sorry, Captain.  I didn't mean to break my promise.  I know it was stupid.  Can you please stop them from hurting me anymore?  I'll do anything you want."

Vic
smiled forgivingly and waved his hand at the other two to back away as he walked up to the side of bed and said, "Do you think Yultorot is still on Khor-Wa?"

"I
know
he is.  That's why I had the Phendicyn.  I was going to sell to a couple people and see if I could move up the chain to get to him."

"I'm not
in
the business of selling Phendicyn, S'bal.  You know that." 

"You told me I had to get to
Yultorot any way I could.  He's addicted to Phendicyn!  He gobbles them up like candy.  I thought I was doing the right thing, why can't you see that?" he moaned.  The Cryndian looked at the ruined stump of his arm and said, "And now look at me!  I'm disfigured for life.  Just leave me.  It won't be much longer now anyway before I shrivel up and die." 

The skin around
S'bal's face was no longer shining and blue.  It had gone dull and yellow, and fault lines in the flesh were starting to show around his mouth and eyes.  Vic reached down and suddenly clamped his fingers around the Cryndian's lips, twisting violently until the skin around his mouth cracked and bled.  "Now you listen to me, and listen good.  The only reason you aren't rotting in Gratersfield Penitentiary is because you signed a contract with Frank to act as an asset.  That doesn't include selling drugs."

S'bal squealed from his gills and begged for mercy, but Vic continued to twist until the upper lip began to tear away.  "So help me, God, I will
tear you apart with my bare hands if you ever try another stunt.  Do you understand me?"

"I do!  I swear it!" S'bal cried. 

Vic stepped back and wiped his hands on the Trauma bed's sheets.  "Put him in the tank.  Put his arm in there with him until we can figure out how to sew it back on."

Frank
leaned close to his ear and said, "I'm still not sure if I can.  His skin's too rubbery and glandular.  I'm not sure stitches will hold." 

"Then get sure.  This op isn't finished yet
and he's our only lead on the target." 

The
Trauma Unit's intercom buzzed and Buehl's voice crackled, "Incoming message for you Captain.  Unification priority channel."

Vic
closed his eyes and took a deep breath.  "Well, I guess I knew that was coming." 

S'bal
sat up in his bed nervously as the captain left the room and said, "Please, just get me into the tank.  I'm on your side in this." 

Frank
nodded to Monster, and the behemoth carefully scooped up S'bal's fragile form and carried him over to the modified water tank at the opposite end of the room.

"
Lower me down.  Gently.  That's it," S'bal moaned as Monster lowered him into the water.  Monster withdrew his wet paws and watched as the Cryndian's flesh absorbed the hypersaline like a sponge.  The cracks vanished and soon his scales were shimmering silvery and blue, more brightly than the cheap gold jewels along his neck. 

S'bal
wriggled out of his clothing to let the hypersaline massage his body.  He fell to the bottom of the tank and stretched out, lying flat, relaxing as his gills sent up tiny air bubbles. 

Frank looked down at
S'bal's stump and frowned, "What's happening?"

Monster turned on the pads of his feet and said, "Maybe if we throw his arm in the tank it will reattach or something."

"Don't bother," Frank said.  He waved Monster over to see the small stump on S'bal's torso as it twitched with new life.  A dozen small spindles of nerves extended from the stump, growing longer and longer until they were nearly the length of a new arm.  Frank smacked the side of the tank to get S'bal's attention and said, "Hey, jerkwad!  You could have told us your limbs regenerated."

S'bal
looked up at Frank and held up his hands innocently.  His expression changed at the look of anger on Monster's face as the creature turned his back to them for a moment, only to reappear against the side of the tank holding something up for the Cryndian to see.  Monster tapped his sharp claw against the glass and said, "You watching?"

Vic headed down the narrow corridor to his quarters.  The
Samsara
was a Moksha-class ship, designed to hold a crew no bigger than four. 
Four humans,
he thought. 
Not Mantipors.
  Accoutrements and comforts were sacrificed for the important things they needed.  Weapons, gear, medicine.  The ship was small and sleek, its thrusters powerful enough to get them the hell out of dodge if the moment called for it. 

The moment often did
,
he thought. 

The ship had guns, of course, but nothing big enough to punch through the hull of a
cruiser.  Their entire strategy in dealing with larger ships was built on zipping around them like a fly attacking the eyes of a gnat, taking out a few of the enemy's key targeting instruments, and making a run for it. 

Vic
called it the Sissypants Maneuver.  Shove the bullies in the back when they aren't looking and flee for dear life. 

They weren't the flagship of any Navy
, that was for sure.  Moksha-class ships were often used to deliver quick supplies to embedded soldiers, to dodge enough enemy fire to drop off a few crates of ammo and explosives, and haul off the injured.  Smugglers tended to prefer them also.  Their crew had borrowed more than a few modifications from the many smuggling vessels they'd encountered. 
Borrowed
being a polite way of saying appropriated.  Bad guys were tremendously willing to part with a stealth shield in lieu of having their shipments seized. 

By the book?  No,
he thought. 
But then, that's not how things get done.
  That's why Unification has her uniformed divisions and puffed-up commanders to put on a nice big show for the rest of the universe.  Meanwhile, he and his crew were running Capture/Kill Ops in all the dark little corners of the galaxy and vanishing without a trace. 

The message display on his monitor was blinking.  He sat down at his desk and touched the screen, waiting for the image of General Milner to materialize.  "Hi, boss," he said.  "I'm glad you called. 
How've you been?"  

Milner's face was red and stiff on the screen
, his jowls squeezed down by his chin until it looked like they might pop.  "Save it, Captain.  Did you extract a prisoner from lawful custody on Khor-Wa?"

Vic
paused, weighing his words carefully.  Finally, he decided the best answer was the simplest.  "Yes." 

"On whose authority did you do that?"

Damn, another trick question.  He scratched his chin, "On my own, sir.  The locals had one of our assets in jail and I needed him."

"No, what you needed was to go through official channels to clear it with me before you committed an act of sedition against a sovereign government.  I have to talk to the High
Khor-Wa Prime Minister in fifteen minutes!"

Vic
held up his hands, "Listen, Yultorot is on Khor-Wa right now.  We are this close to him.  I'll have him in a body bag by tomorrow morning.  I'm sure the Prime Minister will be a lot happier once he gets to make a big speech saying how they've rid the galaxy of one of its most dangerous criminals." 

"That's a nice thought,
but it's not going to happen," Milner said.  "From now on, you and your crew are to remain in uniform when conducting Unification business.  Is that understood?"

Vic
stared back at him, "How can we run covert ops in uniform?  That doesn't make any sense."

The General's eyes flared, "You forget that I ran Grendel long before you were
a hopeful gleam in your father's pants, boy.  Do not think to instruct me on how to conduct its affairs."  The older man adjusted his uniform and cleared his throat, collecting himself to say, "You have an asset.  Send him to secure Yultorot and then you and the locals can make an official arrest together."

Vic
felt his hands start to shake with anger.  "The order was to neutralize Yultorot, General."

"The kill order is hereby rescinded.  Milner out."

The screen went blank and Vic slumped back in his chair, kicking the desk from underneath hard enough to send the stacks of paper spread across it flying.  He caught something in the corner of his eye and whipped around to see Frank Kelly leaning in the doorway.  "How's the patient?"

"He's a conniving S.O.B.  As soon as we dunked him in the hypersaline tank he started to regenerate a new arm.  He was just whining like that to make us feel bad."

Vic chuckled, "Still, it was pretty gnarly when Monster yanked that thing off."

"I almost puked." 
Frank looked back into the hallway, checking to make sure no one was coming.  "You know S'bal's got as much chance of taking down Yultorot as my grandmother does, right?"

"Are you suggesting I violate a direct order from a commanding officer, Lieutenant Kelly?"

Frank smiled at him and said, "No, I'm suggesting that we go with the General's plan all the way.  But maybe we skip a few steps."

"Like?"

"Like telling the locals, staying on the sidelines, and wearing our uniforms."

Vic folded his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair far enough to look up at the ceiling.  "This is how it's going to play.  You were in Trauma with the patient the whole time and this conversation never happened."

"There's one more thing,"
Frank said.

"What is it?"

"When we realized S'bal was growing a new arm, Monster kind of got pissed off."

"
I bet.  What did he rip off now?"

Frank
winced, "He might have accidentally eaten the severed arm.  In front of S'bal.  And then he sat there picking his fangs with the bones and telling him how delicious it was."

Vic
opened his mouth to speak several times but couldn't get any words out.  Finally he waved Frank away and said, "You deal with it.  I can't process all that right now."

"He's eating
pieces of our prisoners, Captain.  That's taking the good secret agent, bad scary monster act a little bit far, don't you think?"

"How did
S'bal take it?"

"
Uh, he was pretty freaked out.  Rightfully so, I might add."

Vic
shrugged, "Maybe it's good to keep him on his fins for a little while.  This is all his fault anyway.  I'm starting to hate that fish, Frank.  I really, really am." 

"Don't you hate all of our assets?"

"I do, but this one is different.  Special.  You know, this might be the hate I've been looking for my whole life, Frank." 

"The hate of a lifetime?  That's nice.  I'm happy for you
and kind of sad for me at the same time."

"It will happen
, buddy.  Just give it time."

Chapter 2
: Ops Plan

Vic pressed the intercom's button and said, "All crew to my quarters." 

Within minutes
, the corridor filled with the sound of boots scraping rubber mats as they shuffled toward him.  Monster lowered his head and ducked inside Vic's room, wedging himself in the far end of the cabin to let the others in. 

Bob Buehl stopped abruptly at the door to let
S'bal slide inside.  His skin was slick with a fresh layer of healthy-looking slime.  Sipping a cup full of hypersaline through a red straw, he nodded at the captain and said, "What's up?"

Frank came up behind the
Cryndian and said, "Sit down and shut up."

Vic
held up his hand to stop them, "I asked for the crew."

Frank looked at him, "Yeah, but I thought you wanted to go over the plan."

"Monster, what's the first rule of Grendel Unit?"

Monster's low, rumbling voice replied, "Never educate the assets."

"That's right," Vic said.  "So if I do want to go over the plan, that means I don't want to go over it with S'bal here."  He looked at S'bal, "No offense."

"Why can't I
be here?" S'bal whined.  "It's my tail on the line down there.  I should have some say in the matter."

Vic
snapped his fingers and said, "Monster, tear off his arms."

"Yes, Captain."

S'bal shot to his feet and said, "That's not funny.  That really hurt, you maniac."

"And it's really going to hurt again, especially now that I know the damage isn't permanent. 
So shut your neck and get the hell out of my office."

"Where do you want him?"
Buehl said.  "I can't put him up front or he might screw with the flight controls.  Where will he be safe?"

"Stick him in the storage closet,"
Vic said. 

They listened to
S'bal's multiple mouths issue a stream of complaints as Buehl dragged him down the hall that grew muted the moment the storage closet door shut, trapping the Cryndian inside.  "You're too soft on assets, Frank," Vic said.  "They don't respect you unless you make them fear you.  That's all they understand.  Otherwise, they will run game on you just like they do everybody else.  They are slicksters and hustlers who get by in this world preying on the weak.  Treat them with any kind of kindness, and they will start searching for ways to take advantage."

"You mean I should start eating them?" Frank said with a sideways glance at Monster.

Monster patted his stomach and said, "Mmmmm.  Good."

Frank held up his hands, "
I just have a different approach.  I'm the nice guy."

"And we all saw how well that worked out with
S'bal the first time, didn't we," Vic said.  He suddenly clapped his hands together and said, "Let's do some business.  Buehl, what's the situation report for Khor-Wa?"

Buehl
lifted his tablet and swept his hand across it until a series of images appeared.  "Status, normal.  Nothing went out on any of the enforcement channels about us.  I guess the Sergeant decided to keep it to himself.  Other than that, I've got their whole camera network searching for Yultorot.  Nothing so far."

"Unless he's wearing a disguise," Monster muttered.  "Your technology is only good for so many things.  I prefer to be at ground
level."

"Right, because you're so inconspicuous,"
Buehl said.

Frank
clapped his hands to get their attention, "Ladies, ladies.  If you're going to fight, at least have the decency to strip down and oil up first."

Vic
pointed at Monster, "What's the latest intel on Yultorot?"

"He's been laying low since
Cinth-Combs."

"I'd lay low too if I blew up a school full of kids," Frank said. 

"Are we sure nobody else caught up to him?" Vic said.  "The Cinth-Combs families put up a big enough bounty to drag every moron with a gun out of bed.  I don't want to risk going down there if our target is rotting in some basement somewhere."

Monster's lips curled back into a snarl, showing his large yellow fangs, "If the families of the murdered children had
Yultorot, we'd know it.  They'd crucify him in the rubble of the school and let the insects eat him.  He's still free, captain.  I'm sure of it."

"All right,
Big Man," Vic said.  "That's good enough for me."  His eyes turned on Frank, "And you.  Mister Nice Guy.  Mister Let's Give Fish a Chance.  Mister I'll Keep an Eye on Him.  How'd that work out, Frank?"

Frank rolled his eyes, "It didn't. 
Can we move forward instead of living in the past now?"

"What is your assessment of
S'bal's ability to lure Yultorot into the open?"

"I think he can do it," Frank said.  "But I think he needs people close to him to make sure he doesn't do anything squirrelly.  Fishy.  Whatever."

Their eyes met as Vic considered his next words carefully.  Finally he said, "Then these are my instructions.  Buehl, you and Monster will remain on board to coordinate surveillance.  You are not to reenter Khor-Wa until I call for extraction."

"What?"
Buehl said sharply.

"Captain, that's not how
our ops work," Monster said.   

"It is today
.  Frank and I will go down with the fish and try to get eyes on Yultorot.  He can handle S'bal, I'll complete the mission." 

"This is bull,"
Buehl said.  "I can get better scans from the ground.  I'll be able to trap any emergency signals and keep the locals in the dark.  I can't do any of that sitting up here."

"While you're watching for
Yultorot and Frank's watching S'bal, I'm the person watching both of your backs, Captain.  That's how these ops go.  That's how they get done correctly," Monster said.

Vic
nodded silently.  Of course his men were right.  A first year operative could see that.  "Gentlemen, your objections are duly noted.  My instructions stand.  Dismissed."  He watched them get up and file out, but called out to Frank, "Give me a minute, Frank." 

Frank stepped back to let the door close in front of him and said, "It was nice of you to keep those other two out of trouble for when the General finds out."

"Shame they don't know that."

"Apparently you don't mind dragging me down though."

"I always said if there was one guy I could easily spend the rest of my life with behind bars, it would be anyone but you, Frank."

"Then why would you pick me to go with you?"

"As motivation not to get caught."

"Your words hurt, you know that?" Frank said with a grin. 

Vic leaned forward in his chair and folded his hands together, "Listen.  Your only job down there is to watch my back until S'bal makes contact.  Once Yultorot is in sight, I'm taking him out."

"That's a mistake,
Vic.  The General said to arrest him.  At least give him that."

"I know what he said.  Things happen."

"Not if you don't let them happen!  You're going to get us put in front of a firing squad."

"No
I'm not, because nobody knows a damn thing and that includes you, Frank.  I'm not arresting Yultorot just so they can turn him into an asset.  God knows he could give them all sorts of dirt on all sorts of people, but that bastard blew up a school.  A school full of little innocent kids, and I'll be damned if that one slides."

Frank sighed and leaned back against the door, shaking his head
, "Our only hope of pulling this off is to get in and get out without making a peep."  Suddenly, he snapped his fingers, "I've got it!"

"Go ahead,"
Vic said. 

"We whack the target and get him off
Khor-Wa as quick as we can, all nice and clean.  Then we take him straight to Cinth-Combs.  We can just dump him on the ground and take off.  We'll tell the General we never found him."

Vic
leaned back and folded his hands behind his head, "He might not buy it, but with all the bounty hunters looking for Yultorot, he won't be able to prove anything.  That should get us past any board of inquiry." 

"See?  That's why I'm the brains of this operation."

"Normally that thought fills me with cold dread, Frank, but today I think you just might have redeemed yourself." 

"Now, the only thing
the plan needs to do is work!" 

"Right, I forgot.  The
easy
part."

"Exactly," Frank said.  "
The easy part.  What could go wrong?"

The
Samsara's
cockpit was packed tight with consoles that monitored everything from nearby asteroid activity to radio frequencies used by over a thousand military and law enforcement channels.  Originally, there was room for three flight chairs, but the third one had to be removed so Monster could fit.  Captain Cojo braced his hands against the threshold and looked at the back of the Mantipor's shaggy head, hunched over a blank display screen.  Buehl was wearing a small sweaty tank top, the lat muscles of his back flared out like an angry cobra.  Vic knocked lightly on the door frame and said, "You two gonna sulk in here all day or do you want to help us get outfitted?"

"I was
just running a systems check," Buehl said defensively.  "How's that sulking?"

"How many push-ups did he do after the meeting?"
Vic said to Monster. 

Monster
shrugged, "I stopped counting at two hundred."

Buehl snatched his shirt from his chair and excused himself past the Captain without saying another word. 
Vic watched him head down the corridor and looked back at Monster, "He okay?"

"He'll get over it.  You know how he feels about being left out."

"I'm not leaving him out.  I need him up here for a reason."

Monster
turned in his swivel chair to face the captain, his green eyes laced with strands of sparkling red crags.  Vic saw that the beast was cupping something in his hands, holding it close to his chest.  He could see strands of fine, blonde, silken doll-hair sticking out from between Monster's furry fingers.  "And what's the reason?"

Vic
frowned, but only said, "Because I do.  Listen, if you don't think I'd rather have a four-hundred pound Mantipor at my side than a skinny medical officer, you're nuts.  You know that if all hell breaks loose, you're the guy I want coming to get me."

Monster's grip on the doll tightened,
"So why are you leaving me up here, when I could do the most good down there?"

Vic
leaned back against the doorway, its metal surface cool against the back of his neck.  "This mission isn't exactly Unification approved.  There's a chance it might come back on us, so I'm trying to keep everybody out of harm's way." 

Monster got out of the chair and stood up as much as he could in the coc
kpit, looming over the captain.  He slammed the doll on the console next to him, "How dare you stand there and insult my honor after everything we've been through!"

"It's not an insult,"
Vic said.  "You've got two wives and a dozen cubs.  Bob's got two kids.  I'm not dragging them all into this too."

"We're soldiers.  We're
Grendel.  Right or wrong, that's what we all agreed to.  You're forcing us to break our oath.  You're denying me my rights as a warrior."

"We both know this has nothing to do with any oaths, Big Man.  At least none that we made to Unification."

Monster looked down at the doll on the console and closed his eyes, "Yultorot must pay for his crimes."

"He's going to," Vi
c said.  "No matter what it takes."

"Just so you know, if it comes down to it and there's any chance of him escaping, I'm
jumping in.  It's not like you can discipline me, since we're off the book on this one anyway."

Vic
nodded, "Fine.  But only if it's worst case scenario.  Otherwise I'm going to kick your furry behind."

"
Better a pack a lunch when you try.  It might take a while," Monster said. 

They met in the corridor near the Trauma unit in front of a set of heavy metal doors.  Bob Buehl leaned down to look into the camera eye mounted to the door and pressed his thumb to the small pad beneath it.  There was a soft beep as the computer identified B
uehl.  The electronic locks released and the doors slid open. 

S'bal
's eyes widened at the racks of weapons and equipment inside.  "By the Gods, do you know what this would be worth to the right buyer?"

"Would it be worth your arms for so much as taking another step closer, fish?" Monster growled. 

"Just stay back, S'bal," Vic said. 

"
In addition to your standard expedition equipment, I picked up some new toys at the last station, so this is a good time to try them out."  He removed two small cases and passed them to Frank and the captain.  "We're going with seeker radios, obviously."  Vic opened his case to see two small black pieces of rubber, shaped to fit perfectly into the ear canal.  "Now, it's going to be tricky because they're calibrated to track the singular voice of one individual.  I've never tried it with a Cryndian before.  Here, hold up the radios to his neck.  S'bal, say something."