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The enemy had paid a grim price to take this station, and I meant to make them pay
even more. We came around a corner as a group in a rush. This was one of the central
passages, wide enough for heavy equipment to be transported. It was a cylindrical
shape about twenty feet in diameter. My marines filled one end of this pipe, and we
began beaming the moment we saw the throng ahead of us.

I wasn’t sure who was more surprised: the Lobsters or us. Because that’s who it was,
a company of perhaps fifty Lobsters dressed up in water-filled suits and crawling
all over the passageway. Their shape was unmistakable, and when our lasers cut into
those suits, they released a gush of steam which quickly turned to frost in the depressurized
passageway.

They returned fire in a disorganized fashion. I’m not sure who had trained them, but
I was pretty sure some of those troops shot their own kind in the butt in the confusion.
Still, with their greater numbers, we were pressed back out of the passageway into
a side chute. We left two of our members dead and floating, including Sergeant Sanchez.

“We’ll wait here, and ambush them when they come around the corner,” I told my panting
squad.

Sandra put away her light beamer and pulled out two combat knives. I glanced at her
and nodded. She gave me a fierce grin. She knew our odds weren’t good, but that part
of her that was different now was enjoying the fight. We touched helmets and whispered
our love to each other off the com-link.

Suddenly, there was a rush of dark metal over our heads. Sandra and I were shoved
down brutally. Whatever had run us over, it was big. When it had passed by, we came
up stiff and sore, with our weapons raised.

Ahead in the main passage, beams flared and gases were released explosively. We crept
forward and eyed the scene with our guns in front of us.

I saw something big down there, plowing into the Lobster troops. I figured out what
it was in an instant and glanced over my shoulder to confirm my suspicions. Yes, Marvin
was no longer guarding our rear.

“Crazy robot,” Sandra said. “Do you think he’ll survive his charge?”

“I don’t know,” I said, putting my back against the nearest wall, “but if he wants
the glory, he can have it. Everyone hold back. Marvin, can you report your status?”

“Colonel Riggs, my designs are extremely successful. I’ve killed thirty-six of the
enemy.”

“Finish off the rest and call us if you need help,” I said. I stretched out and checked
my weapons. I took a sip of water from my suit’s recycler.

“Aren’t you even going to tell him he broke ranks and disobeyed orders?” Sandra asked.

I shrugged. It was difficult to do in a metal suit, but if you are strong enough,
you can pull it off. I could tell she wanted me to scold the bad robot, but I didn’t
have it in me this time.

“Marvin rarely does exactly what he’s told,” I said, “and right now, I’m pretty happy
with him.”

-10-

By the time the relief ships arrived from the inner planets, it was over. The surviving
Crustacean ships had retreated. We learned during a full briefing that the enemy dreadnaught
had been caught shortly after its arrival by one of our weapons systems: the flying
knots of mines. We hadn’t witnessed the strike, but the gunships had.

I’d all but forgotten about the mines, many of which were still on an automatic looping
track around Hel. The massed firepower, catching the enemy by surprise with a hard
smashing blow to the face, had apparently unnerved the Macros. They didn’t like getting
hit hard by something they hadn’t expected. After losing so many of their cruisers
and the dreadnaught, they’d called a retreat. That was why the battlefield had been
empty when I’d come up to have a look around.

The Lobsters had made their move at that point. Figuring us to be more or less dead
and easy pickings, they’d raced straight from the ring to my dormant station. They
might have captured it too, if it hadn’t been for some well-placed railgun rounds
and their inexperienced marines. Marvin had finished them off, operating like an armored
vehicle inside the station.

This stage of the battle appeared to be over, but I wasn’t overjoyed about the future.
While my fellow marines hooted and jeered at the pathetic efforts of the hapless Crustaceans,
I wasn’t so quick to scoff at them. Despite the fact they faced entrenched veterans,
they’d nearly pulled off the assault. The next time they came at us, they’d be better
at it. If there was one thing these academics were capable of, it was learning the
hard way. I suspected they’d been observing us closely and imitating our equipment
and tactics. It was only a matter of time until they became competent foes.

Perhaps more importantly, it was now clear the Macros had replaced humanity with a
new source of willing cannon fodder. We’d left the Crustaceans out in the cold, and
they’d turned on their fellow biotics. I supposed that part was forgivable. Earth
had done the same, in fact I’d negotiated the deal personally. When faced with extinction,
a species tended to do whatever was required to survive.

What followed was a long lull in the fighting. We’d repelled the assault, and exhausted
the enemy. But I knew they were out there, rebuilding. They’d come with twice as many
ships next time, and I needed reinforcements.

“Sandra?” I called, opening the hatchway into our quarters and waking her up.

These days, she slept in the bed with me when I was around—but not when I was gone.
She preferred to sleep on top of things. Today, she was curled up in a ball on top
of the modular shower stall we kept in the back of the chamber. It was cylindrical
in shape, with feeding pipes for water and a drain at the bottom. She somehow was
comfortable wrapped around the PVC pipes up there. I shook my head at the sight. What
had those Microbes done to her to change her habits so drastically? I figured I’d
never really know.

“Kyle? Are we under attack again?”

“No, relax,” I said.

She stretched elaborately. I enjoyed the view. She liked tight flight suits these
days, made of form-fitting nanocloth. Her sculpted body was a wonder to behold, and
never seemed to change no matter what she did or ate. I supposed I had to take the
good with the bad. My girlfriend was a freak, but she was an attractive one.

“Why are you waking me up, then?”

“First off, I wanted to thank you for saving all our butts.”

She blinked at me in comic surprise. “How did I do that? Did I miss something during
my nap?”

“Remember our little pool room session, and the caroming mines that came out of it?
They worked. The Macro dreadnaught was caught full in the face by those mines you
dreamt up and I believe that drove them out of the system.”

“Huh,” she said. She smiled and I expected her to start preening. She did fluff her
hair a little bit, but that was all. “Is this what it feels like?”

“What do you mean?”

“To save the world. You do it all the time.”

I laughed. “Yeah, do you like it?”

“I guess I do. But I hope people don’t expect me to do it again. I mean, it was at
least half accident.”

I nodded. “Yeah, that’s exactly how I feel.”

“What are we going to do now?”

“I think it’s time for us to launch our ships.”

At that, she jumped down from her perch and stepped closer. Her eyes were bright with
excitement. “Let’s do it,” she said. “I want to fry those Lobsters. I bet they’d taste
good with some butter and garlic—and salt, lots of salt. Are we going to hit Harvard,
or Princeton? I want to make their oceans boil.”

“Settle down, there won’t be any genocide today.”

“But Kyle, they turned on us. They screwed the living, in favor of the machines. I’ll
never forgive them for it.”

“The Worms forgave us.”

She gave me an odd look. “I don’t think they really understand what we did to them,”
she said in a stage whisper.

“You might be right. But anyway, I don’t want to attack, I want to fly to Earth. We
need reinforcements. There’s no way we can keep fighting battles out here and losing
personnel without more support. I now believe that’s Crow’s plan: to kill us with
attrition. He doesn’t have to come out here and stamp out our rebellion. All he has
to do is let us hang on at the border, dwindling in numbers. Without reinforcements,
we can’t last forever.”

Sandra twisted her lips and walked around me thoughtfully. “Let me get this straight:
You don’t want to chase down the Macros and the Lobsters when they are weak. Instead,
you want to pick a new fight with Earth.”

“We have a breather, a moment in time where we can grab the initiative and make a
move of our own. We’ll build up, sure. We’ll repair this station and get it operating
again. But I don’t want to crush the Crustaceans. I think we can deal with them as
fellow biotics in the future. I think they can be convinced to join us like the rest.”

“Okay, fine,” she said. As she spoke, she began removing my armor. I let her do it,
even though I was in the mood for flying ships rather than personal contact.

“What are you up to?” I asked.

“I don’t like letting an enemy catch their breath,” she said. “I think we should press
the advantage until they break. Let the Crustaceans surrender and swear allegiance
to us now. Let them become our vassals instead of serving the Macros.”

For a moment, I considered the idea. It did have merit…but I shook my head. “I never
wanted an empire. I’m much more comfortable with a federation of states. An alliance.”

Sandra shook her head. “I never figured you for a dreamer. How can a group of alien
species cooperate that well? How could we really trust them when they aren’t even
human? Humans are hard enough to believe in.”

I had to agree with her, but now she had my helmet off, and my generator pack was
lying on the floor. I frowned at her, watching her body move with cat-like grace.

“Tell me again how I saved the Eden system,” she said.

“What if I don’t?”

“Then I won’t let you take a shower with me,” she said.

“Liar,” I said. Both of us were smiling. We took a shower, and during the process,
the cylinder nearly fell over.

Even after we were done with our victory celebration, however, I felt I needed to
get moving. We were enjoying a breather right now, but it wouldn’t last. We were caught
out here between several hostile forces, with very little intel and no support. In
the long run, the situation was unsupportable.

* * *

Less than a week later, Sandra and I were on an orbital platform over Eden-6, which
was the warmest of the three worlds the Centaurs had given to us. It was an ocean
world, with about ninety percent of the surface being covered by water. There was
no icecap at either pole, and the landmasses were small. Island archipelagoes were
far more common than the few steamy continents. That said, the islands were lovely
and lush. Volcanic beaches with sands of white, mauve and even lavender were common.

Most of the planet’s life was in the ocean, of course. The warm water maintained a
steady year-round temperature of around a hundred degrees Fahrenheit at the equator.
At the poles, it was a brisk sixty-five. The deep warm waters teemed with life, and
from space they were a cobalt blue.

“I can’t wait to get down there,” I told Sandra. “But today won’t be the time.”

“Kwon says he loves it down there.”

“Sadly, we’re going to have to end his little vacation. When will he come up to the
fleet?”

She looked at me shyly. “I haven’t told him about the reassignment yet.”

“What? I requested the order be relayed hours ago. Why are we waiting?”

Sandra touched my armor, but I couldn’t feel it. “Let’s go down and tell him in person.”

I narrowed my eyes. She was scheming. I could always tell. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t
be successful, but I prided myself on knowing when I was being manipulated.

“Shore leave?” I demanded. “We’re in the middle of war.”

“We’re always in the middle of war. I want to go to the beach, dammit!”

I furrowed my brow and scowled. I opened my mouth to order her to call Kwon to the
platform, but she reached up and slammed my visor down. I heard my voice echo inside
my helmet. I adjusted my headset and made the call myself.

“Kwon here,” he responded quickly.

It was Sandra’s turn to glare. I ignored her. “Kwon, I need you. We’re going on a
flight back toward Earth.”

“Why you need me for that, sir?”

My frown deepened. Was everyone infected by a virus that induced laziness? I opened
my mouth to repeat my order, this time sucking in a deep breath to create an outraged
bellow.

I took a moment to glance down at Sandra first, however. That was a mistake. She had
crossed arms and wore a disappointed look on her face. I softened in that instant,
and somehow she knew it immediately. She brightened, eyes widening.

“Kwon, I’ve changed my mind. I’m coming down to perform a personal inspection.”

“Very good, sir. You will like it here. I’ll start an underground fire for the barbecue.”