Indigo Squad (21 page)

It didn’t.

Being unable to scratch one’s ass without bumping your partner into the bubble wall kind of cramped his style.

They should have been talking through possible scenarios and battle plans – mentally rehearsing ways to capture critical ship controls and win allies.

Instead they shut down their minds,

This was engineered into their brains – a way to send the conscious mind on vacation while the unconscious and cyber-augmented parts of the mind kept alert during extended sentry duty.

Springer and Arun took turns to stay conscious. They called it ‘A’ Watch and ‘S’ Watch.

When it was his watch, Arun tried to activate the battle planner mode that was unique to his mind, as far as he knew.

Zilch.

Fed by Darius and his smaller cousins, Arun had enough data for his battle planner to work on. The ship’s crew were sullen, resentful of the takeover, which they blamed on the increasingly bullying Marines, despite several ship’s officers being amongst the mutiny’s leaders. No one had seen Captain Flayer since the day of Arun’s capture – presumed dead – and the reserve captain was confined to her quarters, which Indiya said she rarely left anyway.

The sleeping ranks of Marines were being thawed gradually, section by section, to ensure each additional group accepted the new order before waking the next. The drug mix was being altered, the effect reduced, trusted rebels being allowed to go drug free.

Of the one Marine Arun sought above all others as an ally – Staff Sergeant Bryant – there was no sign. He didn’t want to believe this, but Arun had to assume the veteran – who’d kept him alive in while he’d been a cadet – had been quietly vented to space.

All this to work on and still nothing. If the fancy part of his brain was still operating at all, it wasn’t playing ball. As the days passed, Arun had to accept that his emergency thaw had probably killed off any special ability he once possessed.

His battle planner had been a wildcard, something that might just give them a reason to believe they could defeat the overwhelming odds.

Without it… He didn’t share this thought with Springer, but as the days passed Arun became convinced that all they were doing was counting off the days until their recapture.

As he waited for the captains to initiate the meeting, Fraser McEwan’s mind drifted to his twin brother whose inevitable execution was on hold while he waited in his cryo pod on Deck 13, along with the rest of Indigo Squad. Despite the cruel façade he presented to the former lieutenant commander – now Captain Wotun – he took no pleasure from his brother’s doom.

Neither had he hesitated to eliminate the threat his brother had posed, for that was the unfortunate situation Fraser was born into. His ambition was nothing less than to nudge the future of the human race into one where humanity thrived rather than was extinguished. It was a dangerous gamble at the best of times and any act, no matter how ugly, was justified.

All the same, he couldn’t help feeling a glow of pride that here he was, Sergeant Fraser McEwan, attending a meeting in the captain’s conference room.

Fraser sat at the triangular table fashioned from a polished stone in which deep swirls of green and red glowed like hidden jewels. At its apex was Captain Wotun, and at its base, Lieutenant Colonel Aurgelmir, who commanded the Marine battalion they carried as cargo. The new XO, Lieutenant Commander Ethniu, was there too, as was the chief tactical officer, chief cryo officer, and Ensign Purge, the ship’s human security officer. The two humans were dwarfs in the presence of the Jotuns, but they’d earned their place at this table.

It was just as well that the crisis had been averted and the ship won over, because even under fire, Jotuns always insisted on the correct protocols being observed at every meeting. That meant ten minutes sitting in straight-backed silence waiting for Captain Wotun to open his meeting.

Fraser frowned at Purge, trying to communicate to his colleague that she wasn’t oriented perpendicular to the floor. Purge didn’t seem to understand. Well, that was her problem if she didn’t know how to sit straight in zero-g.

Captain Wotun gave a wriggle to his shoulders that sent a ripple through his hazel-and-cream fur, and politely bared his teeth.

The meeting had begun.

When no one else seemed in a hurry to speak, Fraser placed a hand on the table – the protocol for claiming the right to speak – and made his play. “Sirs…” He bowed first to the ship’s captain, then the battalion colonel, continuing through the Jotuns in rank order. “Before we begin, may I take this opportunity to congratulate all of you on an effective and efficient takeover of this vessel?”

“Shut up,” said Wotun, not deigning to use his own voice. Fraser flinched at the rebuke but inwardly cheered at the form of words. That the Jotun was speaking in the human language was a victory in itself.

“You have some use,” said the colonel. “That is all. Do not believe you could ever be the equal of a Jotun officer. You will not speak again unless spoken to.”

To reinforce his contempt for the human, Wotun didn’t bother to snarl or hiss. To do so would indicate he thought of Fraser as a potential threat.

Fraser withdrew his hand from the table, sighing inwardly. They’d taken the first steps, but earning respect for humanity wasn’t going to happen overnight – wasn’t going to happen in his lifetime, for that matter.

Captain Wotun addressed the table. “I have called you here, so we have our scents blended before we meet our opposite numbers on
Themistocles
. First let me inform you of the latest situation in Tranquility System. The majority of system defense ships have rallied to our cause. The plan called for us to be part of that fleet from the beginning. Between ourselves and our sister ship we carry 9,400 human Marines. The Tranquility fleet loyal to our cause can only muster approximately 500 experienced human Marines and around the same number of Jotuns, mostly Navy personnel. Despite our absence, the fighting raging through the system is still going our way. Our presence back in Tranquility will guarantee victory.”

Captain Wotun caught Fraser in his stare. After all these years working with the aliens, Jotuns could still turn his limbs to rubber. It was just as well there was no gravity pulling him down, because Fraser would crumble under that stare if there were.

“Sergeant of Marines,” said the captain, “there has been resistance. Can you assure me that all internal threats are now resolved?”

“All humans on board
Beowulf
are now loyal, frozen or dead, sir.”

The captain turned his attention to Purge and asked the same question. As soon as Fraser was released from that stare, he started trembling.

Ensign Purge concurred with Fraser.

“If the rest of the fleet waits for us,” said Wotun. “It will be to make use of your battalion, Colonel Aurgelmir. I know that Sector Command rushed them unfinished to garrison the Muryani frontier, but Sector Command is a collection of blind fools who should have been strangled at birth. Is your battalion a viable fighting unit or was Tranquility Command overestimating their true worth?”

Lieutenant Colonel Aurgelmir placed a mid-hand on the table “If we can keep them awake, drug free and training for another six months, the result will be a battalion I would be proud to die amongst.” He withdrew his hand.

“Ship’s resources can accommodate your request to keep your battalion in a waking state for that duration,” said Ethniu, the new XO.

“It’s a good idea,” added Wotun. “I will have all ship’s crew woken. That way none can hide. If these two humans are wrong and we do have pockets of resistance, they will reveal themselves and be dealt with.”

Fraser placed his hand back on the table.

Captain Wotun shot a fierce look that made Fraser quail but not withdraw. It was vital that Fraser was seen to contribute.

“Are you sure you wish to speak?” asked Wotun.

“Yes, sir.”

Wotun extended vicious claws from all four hands. “Your predecessor as Sergeant of Marines spoke out of turn. He only made that mistake once. This had better be appropriate.”

“Thank you, sir. I wish to ask a question. The business with Indigo Squad and Ensign Krimkrak left many unresolved threads that I can follow back to the person of the reserve captain. May I inquire as to the status of that exalted senior officer?”

Captain Wotun’s claws flickered, itching to taste human blood. That the reserve captain wasn’t present around this table, or on a remote link from her cabin, spoke eloquently of her status. But would Wotun accept having that pointed out by a human?

The Jotun’s claws retracted. “You skirt deftly around the potential to demonstrate insufficient deference toward a superior. Coming as you do from a race of merciless brutes, you do not possess the intellectual apparatus to appreciate the honor that the reserve captain has earned over her long service. Nonetheless your facts are broadly accurate, and we must not allow protocol or sentiment to blind us to possible sources of disloyalty.”

The captain swirled his trumpet-like ears, showing that he genuinely felt uncomfortable as he considered his move.

“You are to continue affording the reserve captain every deference,” he announced. “She brings great prestige to
Beowulf
, and that will be to our advantage when we meet with
Themistocles
. We have vital issues of priority and honor yet to establish with the officers of the other ship. Once we have concluded our negotiations–” the captain’s claws
slikked
out– “I shall eliminate the reserve captain myself.”

“The reserve captain sends her compliments,” said Darius, setting his voice to convey excitement.

“Why? Does she know we’re here?” said Arun, his heart pumping hard for the first time in days. “I thought the only people who knew were just the frea– frakking specials.”

“Of course she knows. This is her secret compartment that she has generously allowed you to use.”

Springer slapped a restraining hand onto Arun. “Leave Darius to me,” she snapped. “There’s no point trying to bully info out of the poor little guy.” She beckoned the AI over. “Darius, why tell us about the reserve captain now?”

“Because now it is time to act. The officer wishes to speak with you both in conference in her cabin at 18:42 hours. Dress uniforms are required and will be provided shortly.”

“Don’t just repeat the officer’s words,” Arun told Darius “I know you’re smarter than that. Tell us what’s changed. Why now?”

Darius made a show of tugging at his chin with his claw while blinking furiously. “Well… I could speculate. Do you think it might be the
Themistocles
? She’s going to pull alongside in slightly under 37 hours. The following day, all Marines and ship’s crew from both vessels are to assemble in
Beowulf’s
dorsal hangar for an important announcement.”

Arun smacked his fist into his palm. “About time!”

“As if we haven’t enough problems,” sighed Springer. “If
Themistocles
is here, it can only mean your other girlfriend, Xin, has taken over the ship so she can come back to haunt us all.”

Arun tasted the bitterness in Springer’s words, but pretended to ignore her. “What’s the plan, Darius?”

Darius positioned himself just in front of Arun’s head and narrowed his eyes. “The plan? The reserve captain was rather thinking that planning was your area of expertise, Mister McEwan.”

Give a Marine an order and she’ll obey almost without question. That had been proved enough times by the ease with which the boneheads had allowed themselves to be used as the mutiny’s muscle.

Indiya had assumed it was the drugs that had made them so malleable. But as she stood with Loobie and the boys beside the reserve captain, watching McEwan and Tremayne paraded in front of her, she wasn’t so sure.

Bringing the two back inside the ship was insanely risky. If she were standing there in the center of the cabin like the two Marines, she would be inwardly spitting fury – in fact, she was standing safely to the side but she was furious anyway.

Arun and Tremayne didn’t seem to feel that way at all. Nothing pleased them more than to stand at attention in their dress blues and salute an officer. They looked as if they had come home.

Beowulf
was currently accelerating at 1g, so the Marines even had artificial gravity to make their backs straighter and salutes snappier.

“At ease, Marines,” said the reserve captain.

Did a flicker of movement pass over the two Marines? Indiya would need a microscope to distinguish between at ease and at attention.

With a faint motor whine, the officer drove her survival chair over to Arun.

“You have both disappointed me,” she said. “I have set neither foot not wheel on your home planet of Tranquility, but I have followed your development most attentively.”

“You!” The Jotun pointed a mid-limb at Springer. “You are merely an incremental development. Proof of precognition developments. Useful, perhaps, but not a reliable finished product. Unlike you, McEwan. You are supposed to have a fully working organic planning computer in your head. Did it ever occur to you that you didn’t quite fight in, McEwan?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Ahh! At last, a glimmer of perception emerges from the deep shadow. You should
not
fit in with your peers because Marines are bred to be a tight-knit group and you are not like them.”

While the reserve captain flicked her ears in annoyance, Indiya fought to keep her balance in the unnatural pseudo-gravity. What the hell was going on here? First Arun’s brother turned out to have hormonal delivery implants, and now Tremayne and Arun are super-augments.
Precognition!
Mader wixering zagh, that was crazy. And the Marines’ reaction? Neither of them so much as blinked.

“As a field trial,” said the officer, “it was felt best that your mental faculties were not made known to your human NCOs. Otherwise you would not be a fair trial, would it? I know for a fact that your officers kept a close watch on you because I have read their comments.” She flicked her ears toward Arun, the Jotun equivalent of giving him a penetrating stare. “Does any of this register with you, human?”