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

that, but as the legionnaires returned to work they did so with renewed purpose.

She felt eyes on her. She looked up to see Raff – wearing inertial armour and carrying a pack, M-19 carbine and sidearm – standing at the top of Pegasus 1’s cargo ramp, watching her. She nodded and turned towards Nyukuti. He was wearing full combat gear as well, carrying a slugthrower squad automatic weapon.

‘You look beat to shit,’ she told him. ‘You good to go?’

Nyukuti didn’t dignify her question with an answer. He just fell in next to her as she strode towards Pegasus 1.

The shuttle shook as they hit Ephesus’s atmosphere. Miska was standing, holding onto one of the handrails. The Cyclops war droid was locked in place, standing over her like a huge metal insect bristling with weapons. The two platoons of Offensive Bastards were strapped into the seats that ran along either side of the assault shuttle’s cargo hold. She had the funny feeling that they were watching her when she wasn’t paying attention but then looking away if she looked towards them. They no doubt wanted to know what she was going to do if they found Torricone and his sequestered ‘punishment squad’.

Sequestration technology, implanting neuralware that effectively allowed an operator, or an AI expert system, to puppeteer a human being, was among one of the most illegal technologies in human space. A number of nation states, including America and its colonies, still executed those caught using it. It was so obvious that Torricone and the others had been sequestered. She knew that there was no way he could ever act like that. The problem was she didn’t have access to the neurosurgical tools that would be required to remove the sequestration implants. That was even assuming the Doc had the skills required to do the surgery. And of course Torricone had deserted.

The Rules of Engagement: if they are under arms then they are a legitimate target, she told herself. The reassuring thing was that she was pretty sure she could do it. The worrying thing was just how much she didn’t want to.

She was trying not to think too much about how close to sequestration what she had done to the legionnaires was. But even if she could have, she wouldn’t have used sequestration. She had put them in a horrible situation, narrowed their choices, but they were still themselves, however bad that was. It was a fine line, but it was enough for her.

She had spoken to Vido. All he had said was that he was going to handle the PR angle. He had sounded angry, a cold anger. He had sounded like he’d had quite enough.

The UN had protested but any way you cut it, Salik had the power in the sky over Ephesus at the moment. Miska did wonder if the UN were in touch with the Teten. Could they call the FBI destroyer in to help, until a peacekeeping force turned up? That would complicate things. Golda had spoken to Salik, made it clear that the Bastard Legion were going planet-side. That they were going to deal with these war criminals and anybody who stood in their way. MACE were fighting a losing battle against Triple S (conventional) and (armoured) in the west. They were too busy to object. By all accounts Salik was not happy but he did not try and stop them.

They were through the fires of atmospheric entry. Cooling thermals rising from the jungle were causing some chop but she’d experienced worse. She received a heavily encrypted comms link request. She opened it.

‘I’m not in the mood for any more bad news,’ she said.

‘Define bad news.’ It was the Ultra. She shared the link with her dad in the Cyclops.

‘Where the fuck have you been?’ she asked. It was difficult to make out the Ultra’s surroundings in the encrypted feed. It was being shot from Bean’s helm-cam, apparently. It looked as though he was standing at the bottom of a hill but nearby she could make out what looked like hooches. Some kind of military camp, then. Even for night the camp looked dark. She couldn’t see anybody else moving around. At least the Ultra was clothed this time, though he only wore inertial armour and he still only appeared to be armed with a knife.

‘Moving from atrocity to atrocity,’ he told her. ‘Following our so-called punishment squad. Torricone and some of the others have been sequestered.’

‘We know.’

‘We thought we were tracking Resnick’s people,’ the Ultra explained.

‘Where’s the punishment squad now?’ Miska asked. She couldn’t quite bring herself to use Torricone’s name.

‘They rendezvoused with Resnick,’ the Ultra told her.

‘That doesn’t make sense,’ her dad said. ‘Why not leave Torricone and the others in play, committing more crimes, getting us into more trouble?’

‘We can’t get into more trouble,’ Miska told him.

‘That’s the most optimistic thing I think I’ve ever heard,’ her dad said across the comms link. She was surprised to see a small smile on the Ultra’s lips.

‘I mean as far as the punishment squad goes. Five atrocities or fifty, it’s the same effect. Ties us up, gives them more time,’ she explained.

‘They need Torricone and his people back to either hide the evidence of the sequestration, or …’ the Ultra said.

‘Use them as a human shield against us,’ Miska finished.

‘Make us fight each other,’ her dad said. ‘I really don’t like these people.’

‘Everyone’s got to make it personal,’ Miska muttered.

‘What do you want us to do if we encounter Torricone and the others?’ the Ultra asked.

‘Why’re you even asking me that? You know the ROE.’

The Ultra stared for a moment or two.

In the shuttle the Cyclops’s head looked between his legs, lens focusing on her.

‘We’re going after Resnick and his people,’ the Ultra told her after a moment or two.

‘There’s something else up there, something truly dangerous,’ she told them.

The Ultra nodded. ‘I’m curious,’ he said.

On the shuttle the Cyclops was shaking its head. It was kind of an incongruous gesture for a