War Criminals by Gavin Smith (ereader for textbooks .TXT) 📕

up a QRF but it’ll have to come from Ephesus, so it won’t be all that Q, if you know what I mean,’ Vido told him. Miska knew that they were stretched too thin. They needed another shuttle the same size as the Pegasi and enough volunteers for a permanent QRF on the Daughter. She was hoping that Golda might be able to help her with that, though she would need to integrate members of the Leopard and Crocodile Society into the rest of the company and the other platoons. None of which was going to help her this time.

‘Nah,’ Miska said. ‘If it goes off it’ll be over a long time before they get here, just monitor the situation,’ she told him.

‘Okay. I’m going to have second platoon and Pegasus-One stand-to for my own peace of mind,’ Uncle V told her.

‘Understood,’ Miska told him. It wouldn’t do any harm and she liked that Vido was showing initiative.

‘If it’s any consolation I think it’s too public,’ he told her.

‘Nyukuti, relieve Bean, I want you looking after the prisoners,’ she told him.

He opened his mouth to protest. She knew he would want to stay close to her.

‘Not now,’ she told him. He nodded and left C&C. ‘Hangman-One-Actual to Nightmare-Two-One?’ she asked over comms.

‘Two-One here,’ Bean answered.

‘I need you to go and get my suit and stow it in your armour’s storage compartment,’ she told him. ‘Nightmare-One-Actual will tell you where it is. Then get back to the briefing room as quickly as possible.’

‘Understood,’ Bean told her.

‘Hangman-One-Actual, to all Nightmare call signs. We may have trouble in the shape of Triple S (elite). I’m going to meet them in the departure lounge. It kicks off, we use Contingency-Three. Any questions?’

Nobody said anything. She turned to the Ultra and gestured towards Kaczmar with her thumb.

‘Make sure that dumb fuck knows what’s happening,’ she told him. ‘He’ll need some cyberware in his ear when we get back to Waterloo Station.’ The Ultra nodded and crossed the C&C to communicate with Kaczmar.

‘This is Colonel Corbin to Major Resnick,’ she said, opening a comms link to the approaching shuttle.

‘What is it, Corporal?’ Resnick answered.

Mature, Miska thought. She could feel Gunhir watching her again.

‘Were you a friend of Major Sheldon’s?’ she asked. Major Sheldon Cartwright had been the officer in charge of the Triple S contingent that had come to Faigroe Station to kill the Bastards after they had taken it. Resnick didn’t answer. ‘If you’re planning a burn, I just thought you should know that it didn’t end well for old Sheldon.’

‘Why don’t you grow up and try and act like a professional long enough for us to do the changeover, you fucking amateur?’ he asked.

Real mature, Miska thought. What bothered her most was that SF operators didn’t behave like this, even if they didn’t like each other. There was always too much at stake and it just wasn’t professional. It showed the total contempt that he had for her and the Bastards.

We’re still kicking your ass and taking your jobs, Miska thought with no little satisfaction.

‘Okay, it’s going to happen real fast,’ she told him. So we don’t have to spend too much time in each other’s company, she didn’t add. ‘We’ll meet you by the airlock. You send two of your people, and they run to relieve my guys watching the prisoners, we get on our shuttle and you do what you want.’

‘You need to get a hold of your fear,’ he told her. Fear? Miska wondered. We’ve been killing Triple S since we got here. She decided not to tell him that as well. It was clear that he was trying to goad her. ‘I’ll tell you how we do this—’ he tried to continue.

‘No, we do this my way or we walk off right now and you guys can have fun and games chasing the prisoners round the aerostat,’ she told him. There was no answer. ‘Asshole,’ Miska muttered.

‘If it goes bad do you want me to save money or cry the Tears of the Sun?’ Gunhir asked. He was talking about the use of the expensive plasma rifle.

‘Cry me a river,’ Miska told him as she headed for the door.

Nyukuti caught up with them at the devastation that was the small departure lounge by the airlocks. They stood among the mangled dead and waited by the airlock that they had cut through. There was a clang as the Triple S Pegasus docked at one of the other airlocks a little further down the departure lounge.

‘Are we killing these guys?’ Kaczmar shouted. Miska turned towards him.

‘No! Not unless they move on us! And shut up!’ she shouted back slowly, hoping that he could read her lips. He just stared at her, the look of concentration on his tiny face nearly lost among the folds of fat.

‘Open the airlock,’ Resnick told her over an open comms link. She was currently in control of the aerostat’s systems. She sent him access and the airlock opened. The Triple S operators came out of the airlock weapons at the ready, scanning the area, looking very professional. An eight-strong squad, two of them wearing Machimoi combat exoskeletons, and Resnick himself. Both the Nightmare Squad and the Triple S mercenaries were trying to look as though they weren’t pointing guns at each other.

Resnick walked over towards them, staring at Miska. She suspected that he was trying to intimidate her. She wasn’t really feeling it.

‘Messy,’ he said.

‘I want to see two of your guys running to relieve my people guarding the prisoners,’ Miska told him.

Resnick looked around at the carnage.

‘So you hit a soft target with overkill but then shit yourself when real soldiers turn up?’ he asked her.

‘What are you trying to achieve here?’ she asked him. ‘If you wanna fight then throw down. If not, then you obviously don’t like us so let’s get on with our day.’

Resnick was looking them over, an expression of disgust on his face. He paused for a moment when he came