Gunship (64 page)

The operators slid Reilly the screen she requested as the holotable ginned up and rotated, showing her the entire tunnel complex overlaid with the associated bunkers, turret positions and friendly force movements. It took up the center of the room, glowing a cold blue color as Reilly used her hands to click on specific turret systems, causing them to power up and directing the robots in the tunnels below the battlespace to take up protective postures. The robots came to life, swinging heavy machine-gun- and grenade-launcher-equipped arms as they stalked down the tunnels, carefully avoiding scurrying troops. Each took up position in hidden alcoves a few hundred meters beyond the hatches leading to the observation points around the bunkers. Reilly activated the backup shields and turned on the decoys. To the attacking enemy, it would look like the main bunkers were a hub of activity as the decoys hurried to prepare to repel the invaders. Decoy turrets emerged from the snow, and a few decoy fighters moved around in tight patrols of the perimeter. Her fingers flew over the holograph of the ice planet’s surface as she activated the real guns and booby traps for their visitors.

She leaned back, studying what she had done. There. It was ready. She sent a message to Trace, Zain, and Captain Slauson to confirm her status. A few more volleys from the alien cruisers above hit the surface, rattling the bunkers from a distance. There was nothing left to do but wait.

“Captain Campbell!” One of the operators hurried over. “Commander Zain on a secure channel for you. I have it up in your ready room.”

The man gestured to the small room off of the main floor. Reilly had set it up to function as a planning room and a place where she could hold private conversations and virtual meetings with other commanders in the area as needed. As she crossed the threshold, the door hissed closed behind her and the screen activated, revealing a tired yet determined-looking Commander Zain.

“Campbell. I know you’re busy, so I’ll keep this brief. My hackers have gained access to additional intelligence on the fleet Welch has sent against us. As you may already be aware, the main push is heading for you and Trace. I am sending the force composition along to you now. It should help with your operational planning. It looks like the initial forces will be predominantly alien. I’m guessing Tiny already has options in place for this contingency?”

Reilly nodded. “Affirmative, sir. And we have enough experienced fighters down here that we know how to deal with their kind.”

“Good. I’m going to send some additional reinforcements your way to help with the cruisers and destroyers overhead, but it will take them a few days to reach you. I had to make some changes to the picket on the fly when we received this new intelligence. Will you be able to hold out?”

“Have we ever not been able to?” Reilly asked, watching Zain closely.

“No. You have never let me down.” Zain looked distracted as he spoke.

“Commander, is there something I need to know here?” Reilly watched as he squared his shoulders to her before he answered. She already knew whatever it was it wasn’t going to be good.

“We think that Welch has gained some access to our communications and has ascertained the general whereabouts of you and your crew.”

“Okay,” Reilly said warily.

Zain looked away briefly before he spoke again. “Welch is sending the largest contingent of implants your way. All ISU. They should arrive within a week.”

Reilly’s thoughts raced as he spoke, her mind trying to push back against what he hadn’t told her yet, what she didn’t want to hear.

Zain opened his mouth but she spoke first. “It’s the one-twenty-third, isn’t it, sir?”

The Commander nodded. “Yes. The whole wing.”

Reilly felt numb as she looked back at the screen. “Who’s in charge?”

“Captain Browning.”

“Shit. Does Trace know?” she asked

“I told him just before I called you.”

Reilly had to ask. “Are we any closer on a solution to getting these damn implants deactivated?” She tried to hide her anger and her fear, but they came through anyway.

The Commander shook his head. “My best people are still working it. Welch has engineered several different designs, based on the ones we’ve been able to take alive. We can only deactivate them individually right now, and then only after surgery. They are deep in, near the base of the brain and spinal cord.”

A voice interrupted off screen, causing the Commander to turn briefly. When he turned back, it was obvious to Reilly that he was needed elsewhere. Reilly was still trying to process it all as she spoke.

“Thank you for telling me, sir.”

The Commander snorted. “Don’t thank me, Campbell. The only reason I’m telling you is so you can tell your people so they don’t get blindsided. I’ll try to keep them off the planet, but there’s a good chance they’re going to make it down, at least a few of them. I just want to make sure when they do that you’re able to kill them, friendly face or not.”

Reilly remained emotionless as she responded. “We’ll hold, sir. No matter what.”

The Commander stared at her, nodded, and then was gone.

Reilly dialed the only other person she could. The connection went through and Trace appeared on the other end.

“Zain told you.” It was a statement.

Trace looked angry. “Yeah.”

“Have you told your people yet?”

“No, not yet. I’m still trying to figure out what to say.”

Reilly leaned against the wall, thinking. Trace spoke again.

“I’ve got to go, but I’ll reach you later.”

Reilly had nothing else to say. “Yeah, later.” She turned off the screen.

Welch had sent their old unit to kill them. How the hell was she supposed to tell her people that? And how could they even hope to fight them face to face? That kind of battle would be enough to drive anyone crazy. How could you kill your own friends and teammates? Reilly’s thoughts rushed by, searching for answers, ways to avoid this confrontation. She’d have to set up some extra devices. She pushed away the memories, reminding herself that they were gone; all that was left was what Welch had made.

She pulled out her handheld and reached Chang. He looked surprised to see her.

“Gunny, I need you and your team to set up a couple of extra options for me. Are the bunkers finished?”

“Yes, ma’am, but some of the robots and turrets still need to be positioned, and we haven’t finished running the det cord for the concussives yet.”

“Can you spare any of your team?” she asked.

“I can break away four of them now for reassignment.” He looked concerned as he watched her face. Something had happened. Something was wrong.

“I need you to take them and wire up the following locations. I’m sending them now. And the last location, Gunny…I need it gated.”

Chang looked up from examining what she had sent.

“Implants. Who?” he asked.

“You don’t want to know,” she answered. His faced registered anger and sadness.

“I already do,” he said grimly. “How soon?”

“Zain says within the week. We can’t fight them face to face, it will kill our people.”

“I know,” was all he could say in return. “We’ll start right away. Will you tell the others?”

“Only if I have to,” Reilly said. “And Gunny? When you rig it up, you set it so only I can activate it. No one else is going to have this blood on their hands.”

“Captain, I understand what you are trying to do, but—”

She cut him off. “You have your orders, then. Make it happen, and make sure however it goes down, it will be quick.”

Reilly signed off her handheld and walked back into the command center. All around her was a flurry of noise, activity and people. But in the midst of it all, she was still alone. The gravity of what she had just ordered Chang to do sunk in like a sucker punch to the gut. She swallowed the bile that rose in her throat and cued up the intelligence from Zain. To everyone else it looked like she was engrossed in the latest data, getting ready for the fight to come. People left her folders, got her signature, asked her questions, and moved on. But inside, Reilly was pushing aside her emotions, closing herself off, protecting herself from the pain of the decisions she was going to have to make.

A deep anger burned sharp in her chest. Welch had already taken her old teammates away, turned them into the worst kind of monsters. There was nothing she could do about that now. Instead, Reilly focused on her squadron, reviewing the battle plan, making tweaks, improving it as she waited for Welch’s forces to break through. Every day that passed was another opportunity for her to get ahead of the enemy. Reilly made sure she used each hour to the fullest, not sleeping, barely eating, working nonstop to do everything in her power to beat him.

Day turned into evening, and the bombardment drew closer as Zain’s fleet was slowly pushed back. They had already agreed that when a specific threshold of losses was met, the fleet forces would retreat to a nearby stronghold to wait for reinforcements. No point in losing assets to try to stop what would happen anyway. Besides, this would be the first battle of many to come. They would need to be conservative now if they ever hoped to take on the AOC directly. Patience and planning would be the key.
And deception,
she reminded herself. No one, not Zain, not even her crew, knew her whole plan. It was best that way. Kept things simple and kept her crew, the people she cared about the most, safe. In the end they would probably hate her for it, but by then it wouldn’t matter. By then, if she had her way, this would all be over.

Reilly watched the battlescape, watched the void above, and waited for Welch to make his next move.