Bactine (4 page)

Flashes of the past came to Daniel. He heard the voice of his brother again.

"
I
can
always
get
you
a
job
in
our
company
,
dear
brother
.
" Malcolm had just gotten a good position in a firm then, and rubbed it in Daniel's face as often as he could.

After yet another rejection for a job, Daniel had mentioned his intention to join the army, the space forces to his brother. That was something he regretted until this day. It also had strengthened his decision to join the space forces. And he had gotten in there on the first attempt.

Cynthia had been thrilled for him. His sister had written him a real paper letter, in her minute handwriting. He had saved it, still had it. Daniel smiled as he thought of it. That was so much more valuable than the sneer of his younger brother. "
Not
much
of
a
start
,
is
it
?
They
accept
everyone
clearly
.
"

Daniel turned away from the window. "Damn you, Malcolm. Why are you haunting me now?" His anger flared up, and he hated it.

The Rebuilt man skipped lunch and headed back to the training room with the ropes and the ghastly gravity. "Burt?"

"Right here, Daniel. Early lunch today?"

"No lunch. Jan turned down the mess in my eye and I want to do this. No. I am going to do this."

"Right on, Daniel. Get the remains of your rocket destroyer, get yourself up there and we'll give it a go."

Daniel picked up the smashed-up box and got hauled up to one hundred and seventy feet. "Ready when you are."

"Jump at will. I'll swing the rope when you're off."

Daniel didn't even think. He jumped and reached the first stationary rope, twenty feet lower, without a problem. Hanging from one arm he kept an eye on the motion of the rope below him, and at the right time he dove down to it. He couldn't miss it.

He missed. The rope wasn't where he'd expected it. The thud he heard as he hit the floor almost washed out the loud twang that came from overhead.

"Sorry, Daniel. The bloody swing-trigger malfunctioned. You were looking good there, though."

Gravity was lowered again. The door opened. Daniel groaned inside as he heard a voice.

"Hey, Daniela, are you comfortable down there? That was one hell of a landing there, sister!" Troy roared with laughter as he walked to the fallen Rebuilt. He pushed Daniel’s leg with a foot. "Come on, get up. You're here to learn something, not to lie on your back like a whore."

Daniel gritted his teeth and waited just long enough before getting up. "We are all here to learn something, Troy," he then said, noticing Ludo who was waiting by the door.

Troy chuckled. "Yeah. And some learn faster, Daniela. Some learn a lot faster."

Daniel grinned, confusing Troy and loving that. "You got that right, Troy. So right."

Ludo did not follow Troy immediately as the latter walked through the door. Instead, he waited for Daniel and quickly said: "Don't worry, Zacharias. This thing is a stinker. Took me a few times to get it right also." Then he sauntered off after Troy, as if he was the Rebuilt's serf.

Daniel went to find Burt and asked permission to get some lunch now, which was fine with Burt. "Just don't miss class this afternoon. We're going into things you really should not do with your new body."

"Isn't this stuff supposed to be indestructible?" Daniel was surprised by the words of the trainer.

"It is. That's what the class is for."

Daniel shook his head as he left. This sounded completely off.

The class however was far from that. Burt told them about the things that they should not do with their bodies, even though there was nothing known to man that would damage them. The most improbable thing that stuck with Daniel was the announcement that they should not volunteer their bodies to be used as a projectile.

Burt explained that someone once had done that. "There is no practical reason that would prevent you from doing it," he said, "but you have to understand that people who are Rebuilt are part of an elite corps. Turning yourself into a cannonball is not something high command is expecting from someone in whom they have invested so much."

There had been other reasons, moral ones that made a lot of sense, but this particular one of the cannonball refused to be shot out of Daniel's mind. After crashing into the ground so often earlier that day, he wondered what the difference was.

Daniel started waking up before the sound of the alarm actually made it to his eardrums. Whether it was a sixth sense of his own, or one that had been implanted with the Bactine was of no importance. Fact was that he knew it was happening. By the time the sixth whoop sounded, he was almost dressed and while the tenth whoop wailed he was running through the corridors, overtaking people with his long and amazingly powerful steps.

The commander of his group was halfway dressed, his uniform sort of thrown on. Daniel had to wait for information until most of the emergency room was filled. Then the commander spoke.

"We received word from the Hargha system where one of our scientific moon bases is. It's been taken by a hostile group. It is not yet certain what they are. We do know there were several casualties already as bodies have been seen floating out into space. We are requested to send a team of people to end the crisis. Given the nature of the situation we are asked to send in a team of Reb- enhanced people, together with a medical core-team."

Most of the Rebuilts, who stood scattered through the room, were excited. Daniel was among them, even if he was the newest of the Rebuilts on the base. That, he knew, would make it very improbable that he got chosen for the mission. He suppressed a snicker at the commander's attempt to circumvent the word Rebuilt. Enhanced people sounded better.

"The base is located on the second moon of Hargha 9," the commander continued. "It is a large base, so we'll need every available enhanced person. Get ready folks, you are on call at platform Gamma 3 in twenty minutes. The core medical team is being put together as we speak. Dismissed. And will someone shut down the bloody alarm."

All Rebuilts got into action and soon Daniel had packed his stuff together and was pacing along to the designated platform. When he reached it, all seventeen other Rebuilts were there already. Daniel grumbled; he hated it to be the last one there.

Troy frowned at Daniel. Then a smile came to his face, and Daniel did not like that. He probably had missed something important.

"All aboard!" The command came seconds after Daniel had arrived. Rapidly the group split up and boarded two waiting shuttles.

"Daniela, you're with me!" Troy yelled, too loud.

Daniel cursed under his breath as he forced his way to the other shuttle. Once inside it, he found a seat, stashed his bag under it and buckled up. From behind him, someone tapped his shoulder. It was Phil.

"We're screwed, Daniel. Troy's in command of this group."

"Shut up, everyone!" someone yelled. It was not Troy, Daniel decided with a satisfied smile. That was destroyed a moment later, as Troy yelled out, through the P.A. system, that the one talking had to shut up as well. This was not going to be a great mission, even if it all went like clockwork.

Troy's face appeared on a screen. "Listen up. I am in the cockpit with the pilot. I will be in constant contact with our people in the Hargha system as soon as we are in reach. I will also let you know when we are in range. And I will detail our plans as soon as things are clear."

"I, I, I," Daniel heard Phil say. "The idiot is quite full of himself."

The take-off notice appeared. Seconds later the soldiers got kicked in the rear, as the shuttle shot out of the launch bay, sailing into the deep blackness of space. They were on the way to the Hargha system.

-=-=-

The flight to the Hargha system was fast. The two military shuttles had linked up once far away from the military base, and like that they had jumped into Faster Than Light-space.

Daniel had been studying the layout of the moon base they had to liberate and had decided on two possible points of entry and attack that would cause as little damage as possible to the laboratories.

A black Rebuilt had been watching Daniel as he was sitting next to him. "You did this more often, right?"

"Yes. I was an assault marshal," Daniel said. "I'm Daniel."

"Kjella. Assault marshal? No shit. And why are you not leading this thing then?" Kjella asked.

"I don't know. I guess I am not experienced enough as a Rebuilt. Only in this game for a few weeks, and still in training."

Kjella made a sound that clearly indicated his contempt. "Being like us has nothing to do with being able to lead a mission. I think someone went and got himself a brown arm." He made a gesture as if he stuck his hand through a very tiny hole.

Daniel snorted.

A loud beep drew everyone's attention to the screen, although they all knew what it means. Drop out of FTL in one minute. The men and women prepared themselves for the nauseating feeling that belonged to that part of the journey when on a shuttle. It never lasted long though.

As soon as they were in normal space again, the monitor showed the layout of the moon base. There were markings in three places. Troy's voice came from the P.A., detailing how the attack would be staged.

"He has one place the same as you had," Kjella said.

"Yes. Had." Daniel shook his head at the plan on the screen. "It's a kind of back-door. Good place to enter, but too far from the sensible places where you would expect hostages to be held."

Kjella nodded. "You going to tell him?"

"Yes. At least I'll try." Daniel had little hope that he would get through to Troy.

The two shuttles detached from each other and quickly dove in the shadow of the moon that was their target. Troy came into the cabin and started assigning people to subgroups that would be in several stages of the attack.

"Troy, a word," Daniel said as the man passed him.

"What? You want out?"

"No. Listen, this is serious. There are flaws in your plan, Troy. I'm an assault marshal, I can help you-"

"Shut up, Zacharias," Troy snapped. "I'm in charge and we're going in the way I said we would. I am not taking any crap from you. Assault marshal my ass."

Daniel sighed. He had expected that. As Troy came back to the front, Daniel again tried to talk sense into the man, but the response was the same, only permeated with stronger language, and the promise of court martial if the assault marshal did not shut up. "And that's a fucking order, Daniela!"

Troy disappeared into the cockpit again, slamming the door with unneeded force. Silence fell in the passenger cabin.

"You tried," said Kjella. "I'm your witness."

"So am I," Phil said.

Troy's voice came on again. This time he used the Rebuilts' inner ear communication, even though there was no reason for it. He started detailing the plans for the group, as images on the monitor clarified his words.

Daniel kept shaking his head. There were serious beginner's mistakes in the plan. This was not going well.

Even before all detailing was done, the shuttles set course for the moon base. Daniel hoped that their approach would at least be with the sun in their back, so the scopes on the base would hardly be able to pick the shuttles up on visual. Everyone reached into their bag and brought out the weaponry they had taken along.

"As soon as we are on the ground, we move out. You know your position and direction. Go there and report to me directly," Troy notified everyone. At least he got that right. "And remember to fill up your compartments. We're going out on inner air."

All around was the sound of air pockets being filled. Daniel did that too. It felt strange, like breathing in through your arms and thighs, and not breathing out. He knew that, in worst case, a Rebuilt could survive for three hours on this air reserve. Hopefully it would not get that far.

There was a dull sound and a shiver ran through the shuttle. The hatch opened and the crew streamed out. Daniel noticed that they had indeed approached the moon base the right way.

"Troy, once again, change your plan. Please," he said to their group commander as he jumped from the shuttle.

"Shut it, Zacharias." Troy was not receptive to advice.

"If there is something like a God, please be merciful," Daniel whispered. Then he ran off with his two companions, Andred and Wilson. Troy had assigned them to the back-door. "Phil, Kjella. Good luck," he said on a private channel.