T'aafhal Legacy 1: Ghosts of Orion (41 page)

“Man, what is with these people?” griped Raoul Mendez, the former navigator.  

“You really don't know who these people are?” asked Leon. “The Captain, First Officer and Sailing Master were all high ranking Navy officers during the war. Before that they were part of the original crew of the Peggy Sue, the starship we're on.” 

“Like I'm supposed to know who all these people are,” Mendez muttered.

“They are some of the most famous explorers in all the Orion Arm. How I wish I had landed a berth on this ship instead of that bucket-of-bolts livestock transport we came here on.” 

“Yeah, yeah. They got me working for some Jap broad as a junior navtec.”

Frank Hoenig, the shuttle pilot, was the last man retrieved from space. He just finished talking with the Sailing Master and had drawn some different conclusions than his former shipmates.

“I'd be careful with that mouth of yours, Mendez. That Japanese lady is Dr. Mizuki Ogawa.”

“Huh? So what?”

“She is one of the most respected astrophysicists of our time, and she was also on this ship's second voyage—the second voyage to the stars ever made by Earthlings. She has seen more strange worlds and fought more aliens than you have ever dreamed of. That's so what.”

“Hey, I've heard of her,” Leon exclaimed. “She's like a samurai warrior physics chick. If she had a rock band she'd be a female Buckaroo Bonsai.” 

“I would keep a civil tongue in my head if I were you, Raoul. She could kick your sorry ass without breaking a sweat,” Frank added. Raoul scowled. 

“I'm looking at this as a net positive,” Leon said, ignoring the disgruntled navigator. “I'm alive and I've already found new employment.” 

“Well my friend, play your cards right and you just might work your way into a permanent position.” In an almost conspiratorial tone, Frank added, “The crew gets a piece of the action from any discoveries made during the voyage.” 

“I don't care, I just want to go home,” Ethan Jones opined. 

“Hey,” said Leon, “what happened to those two settler boys?” 

Mendez snorted. “Who gives a shit? I hate to say it but I'm with Jones, I just want to go home.”

“You guys got no imagination,” countered Leon. “This could be the opportunity of a lifetime.”

“I'll give yous the opportunity of a lifetime,” said a gruff voice from the aft doorway. “Hoenig, Delaney, haul your asses aft to the armory and get fitted for some armor. Yer gonna make one last visit to Paradise.”

“Aye, aye, Chief,” the two men responded as they hurried aft.

“The rest of yous scupper turds, grab yer data pads. I ain't done orientating yous yet.”

Shuttle One, Descending

Bobby was once again at the controls of the heavy armored shuttle, making a return trip he never thought he'd make. Next to him was Fred, the new shuttle pilot from the Fortune. The Captain wanted him to get a little on the job training, and to see how he handled himself under stress.

Sitting in the port side jump-seat, Beth seemed on edge. Bobby and Beth had been friends from the time she started dating Billy Ray—he knew she had taken the Gunny's loss hard, he just hoped she didn't have her expectations too high. Just because a survey drone found an emergency beacon didn't mean there was somebody alive down there. 

In the other jump seat was Doc White, just in case there was a survivor. She seldom left the ship and was excited to see the dead planet up close.

“This is the area that the holotank displayed earlier? The little town in the middle of green prairie land?”

“Yes, Betty,” Bobby answered. “The area just ahead had been seeded and was expanding rapidly before the contagion took it out.”

“And we're sure it's gone, right? The contagion I mean.”

“That's what Mizuki and the science dweebs said. As long as we are all encased in space armor we shouldn't reawaken the stuff.”

“Look! Down there.” Beth pointed excitedly to something on the surface off the port side.

“Yeah, the locator shows that as the drone location. We'll swing around and land pointed uphill. Frank, you bring her around.” 

“Roger.” 

“Just remember, she flies like a brick, an overpowered brick, but still a brick.” 

* * * * *

Frank managed to set the shuttle down ten meters beyond the flexibot. The robot drone stood like a beacon tower next to the prostrate figure on the rocky hillside. Betty and Beth headed for the rear of the craft, Beth in the lead.

“OK. I'm going to the back to keep an eye on things,” Bobby said to Frank. “If I start yelling get us into the air quickly.”

“Roger that. I've been through that drill once already.”

“There might be hope for you yet, Frank.” Bobby clapped his co-pilot on the shoulder and followed after the women.

The scene at the rear ramp was crowded, with the three Marines, Beth, and Dr. White all trying to get a look at the dark object laying next to the rod and wire tower formed by the flexibot. Behind them Kashi and the new crewman, Leon, stood by with a portable medical capsule, an emergency stretcher on repulsors with full medical sensors. The capsule could be sealed, providing air and oxygen to a wounded patient even in vacuum.

“Let's see what we have, people,” Beth said. 

“Bosco, Vinny, lead off,” ordered Kato. “I'm right behind you.” 

The Marines were armed as they had been in the ship's hold when the escape pods were recovered, with UV lasers. The plan was for the Marines to be the only personnel to dismount from the shuttle. If the black contagion did make an appearance the hope was that the lasers could hold it off long enough for them to get back on board and get the shuttle into the air.

As the Marines neared the figure, the flexibot shrank downward and tumbled away from the site. Bosco reached the dark figure first.

“It looks like one of our armor suits all right.”

“Is it intact?” asked Beth.

Kneeling down, Bosco ran a gauntleted hand along the side of the battered suit. The outer layers of armor flaked and crumbled under his touch.

“The armor is badly degraded, but the suit seems intact.”

Vinny called out, “I'm getting telemetry readings that show an internal atmosphere. The power levels are low but there's still active life support.”

“What do you want us to do, Commander?” asked Kato, scanning the area for any movement, any indication of a threat. 

“Try to stand the suit up.” 

Bosco and Vinny obeyed, gently lifting the top of the suit, levering it into an upright position. The suit arms stayed frozen in the same positions they had on the ground: the left arm bent, hand next to the helmet; the right arm out stretched, reaching for the sky.

“What now, Ma'am?”

“Bring the suit onto the ramp.” As the Marines complied with Beth's orders, she turned to Bobby. “When they are all standing on the ramp I want it raised until it's level with the cargo floor. Then liftoff into a hover so nothing can get to us.”

“Right. Frank, did you copy that?”

“Roger, standing by.”

Moving the massive, damaged suit was no problem for the augmented musculature of the Marines' armor. The figure was soon standing on the cargo ramp and the shuttle hovering a hundred meters above the ground.

“OK, Kashi and Leon, hose it down with distilled water, just in case.” Though Beth was dying to open the battered suit of armor, she forced herself to methodically follow the plan drawn up with the science section on the trip down. Water and crud sluiced off the end of the ramp, falling to the dead world below.

During the wash down the supporting Marines rotated the suit until it was facing out the open cargo hatch. This put the suit's back to those inside. Entry to a suit of heavy armor was from the back, where the back mounted equipment and ammunition storage opened like a clam-shell. The sailors secured the water hose and stood back, expectantly.

Beth nodded to Kato. “Crack it open, Sergeant Kwan.” 

Equipment and chunks of armor fell off as Kato pried the back of the suit open. Inside was a body, in a skintight pressure suit. Doc White and Kashi rushed forward to pull the limp form from its armor shell. The head lolled back and the face could be clearly seen—it was Rosey Acuna.

Thank God!
Beth started toward the Gunny's slack body but stopped herself.

Working quickly Doc White and Kashi stripped the sergeant's body and, with Leon's help, got her into the medical capsule. Betty moved purposefully about the fallen Marine, palpating extremities and attaching IV lines. Finally she slid the clear cover shut, providing an oxygen enriched atmosphere for her patient to breath. 

“Doc?” Beth asked, a hint of anxiety in her voice. 

“She's alive. Pulse is week and she's a bit dehydrated, but she should be OK.” 

It was as though a great weight was lifted from Beth's shoulders. There were smiles all around among the crew. The Marines' expressions were not visible within their armored helmets but the change in body language indicated their elation.

“Ma'am, what do we do with the suit?” asked Kato.

“There might still be some contamination on it, throw it off the ramp.”

“Aye, aye, Ma'am.” Kato motioned to the Marines still supporting the empty suit. They took a step and heaved the ruined husk out of the shuttle. It fell to the surface, out of sight of those in the cargo bay.

“Frank, close the ramp and let's get underway for orbit. I'll be forward in a minute.” 

“Roger that, Commander Danner.” 

Inside the clear covering of the medical capsule Rosey stirred. Given hydration fluids and oxygen, her medical nanites kicked into overdrive. With effort she managed to focused and look around at her assembled rescuers.

“If this is heaven I'm real disappointed,” she mumbled. “And if it's hell, it looks just like the place I came from.” 

Beth leaned over the stretcher beaming.

“Welcome back, Gunny.”

Chapter 30

Sick Bay, Peggy Sue

The Gunny had a steady stream of visitors, to the point where Dr. White was becoming annoyed. She made a comment to that effect to Rosey, who was an old friend and shipmate.

“Yeah, you'd think I owed them all money or something,” the Marine said from her hospital bed. “Doc, how long are you going to keep me on my backside?” 

“Until I'm sure I'm not missing something,” Betty shot back. “After all the uproar, I'll be damned if I'm gonna take the blame for you dropping dead because some microbe was overlooked.” 

“Well, when you put it that way.” 

A new set of visitors entered the ward—the two rescued girls and the First Officer. The sisters stood shyly at the foot of the bed, with Beth standing behind them, smiling. The First Officer was doing a lot of smiling since they brought Rosey back from the surface.

“Gunny,” Beth began, “meet Dorri and Shadi, the two young ladies we retrieved from the last settlement.”

Rosey smiled and moved the bed to a more upright position. “Hello, ladies. It's good to see you.”

“It is wonderful to see you, Gunnery Sergeant Rosy Acuna,” said Dorri. “If not for you I would no longer have a sister.”

“Yes, you saved my life,” added Shadi, “and for a time we were all afraid that your kindness had cost you yours.”

Rosey actually blushed. “Just call me Gunny. Like I said, it's good to see you both alive and kicking. All my friends should have known, it takes more than a deadly planet wide contagion to take out a Marine.”

“And the Gunny is a true Marine,” Beth said. “The best on the ship and an example for Marines everywhere.”

The Gunny's eyes got a bit wider at the First Officer's effusive praise. “Thank you, Ma'am. Just doing the job.”

“Can I ask you a question, Gunny?” asked Shadi. 

“Certainly.” 

“Dr. Ogawa said she would teach us kendo, but she said that you were the best person to learn self defense from. Would you teach my sister and me how to fight?” 

A smile spread slowly across the Gunny's face. “I would be happy to have you join the Marines' daily class. But you will need to participate in the daily run and PT—physical training—each morning before
hand-
to-hand combat instruction. Is that OK?”
 

Both girls nodded yes enthusiastically.

“We start at 0500 in the cargo hold. Though it will take me another day or two to get out of this hospital bed.”

“We'll be there, Gunny. Thank you!”

“Thanks, Gunny,” added the First Officer. “Let me know when you are ready to return to duty.” 

“Yes, Ma'am.” 

With that, Beth herded her young charges out of the room, thanking Betty on the way out. Betty returned to Rosey's bedside.

“They seem like a couple of nice kids, and Beth was being awfully nice herself. If she's not careful she'll damage her reputation.” 

“Don't be snarky, Doc. The First Officer has a tough job, this being a new crew and all.”