Saint (Gateway Series Book 2) (31 page)

“If I tell them Stone is still alive, Astra Varus will expect me to keep hunting for him,” replied Martin.

“That should work,” answered Nero. “Admiral Carsis Plaxis will be key. He must be with us.”

“Admiral Plaxis is a dissenter?” asked Martin, her shock evident.

“Yes,” answered Nero. “I am assuming he is still in command of two of the four battle groups assigned to Alpha Humana defense.”

“He is,” replied a still stunned Martin.

“Plaxis will proceed on a training mission to the edge of the Dark Zone near the Gateway Station. When he is there, as soon as the next day’s frequencies are passed, he will send an electron spin burst message with the required frequencies to my attack group. As soon as they are received, I’ll pass them to the other two groups. The first assault force, identified as Task Force Scout under command of Admiral Willow, will perform a combat jump and engage and destroy the Gateway Station.”

Admiral Willow rose to address the group. “I will need ten battleships and two carriers uploaded with additional attack and fighter craft, along with another…fifteen escorts. We will greatly reduce the troops onboard the carrier to support the larger loadout of the air assault elements. That should be sufficient if we take them by surprise.”

As Willow sat, Nero continued. “With the Gateway boundary down, and the Humani unaware of our knowledge of Dolus, the next group should take Dolus completely by surprise. Admiral Evergreen, with Task Force Raven, will carry out the assault on Dolus.

Admiral Evergreen then rose to address the group. “As we discussed under the previous plan, I will have twenty battleships and four carriers, also with increased air assault loadouts, and about twenty-five escorts. As soon as we reach Dolus, we’ll launch recon patrols to identify the access points to the underwater stations. Once identified, we will begin launching deep penetration nukes with remote charges. They should be able to quickly dive to the ocean bottom and then embed themselves into the floor, where we will detonate.”

“And,” added Nero, “with the Humani keeping the Xen and Dorans in the dark about Dolus, they will most likely respond to Dolus and the Gateway Station with their entire Humani defense fleet, half of which will be under the command of Plaxis and not engaging. That will open the door for my force to assault Alpha Humana itself. My group, Task Force Eagle, will include fifteen battleships, thirty carriers, and sixty escorts. Onboard the carriers will be 90,000 troops. We will also have fifty transport carriers with an additional 100,000 troops. If Martin is successful, we can possibly double that number with military support from the resisting families on the planet itself. The goal will not be to occupy the entire planet, but I believe we can gain control of at least two regions and most importantly, the capital of Mt. Castra. Once we have the capital, we can send out the truth via Senatorial citizenry comms links and let the Humani people determine their own fate.”

“This plan has a lot of risks,” replied an admiral sitting across from Nero. “What if this Humani fails?”

“If she fails, we can still slug it out at Gateway Station and attack Dolus like the original plan,” answered Nero.

“What if she’s found out and then forced to talk?” asked the same admiral.

“I won’t fail,” replied Martin. “And nobody forces me to do anything.”

“You say that now,” answered the admiral.

“She may fail,” replied Nero. “But she is a Guardsman—one of the best. She won’t talk.”

“Will the Association not inform the Humani they have lost a council member? That could cause them to fear the information has been leaked,” asked another admiral.

“We are confident the Association is invested too deeply and would fear the Humani response if ProConsul Varus found out. As usual, they will keep quiet and try to hedge their bets. That is also why we will not retaliate against Port Royal for their clear violation of neutrality. That will also help to convince the Association that we do not know their plan,” replied River.

“What of the others on Alpha Humana?” asked another officer. “What if they talk?”

“They won’t know enough,” answered Nero. “Martin will be the only one to know everything. And the others won’t act without her signal. The only other linchpin is Admiral Plaxis and I trust him as well.”

“There is no doubt risk,” added Admiral River. “But if we can pull this off, we destroy the Gateway Station, stop the ProConsul from unleashing genetic warfare on the Confederation, and possibly bring the Humani into open revolt against their government, maybe even the Xen. It’s too much to pass up.”

“So it’s decided?” asked Nero.

“I’ll need to confer with the other Shirt-wearers but I think they will approve.”

“Excellent,” replied Nero. “Now we need to get Martin ready to play the chameleon. A chameleon that will open the door to victory from the inside.”

***

“They have to believe it,” huffed Martin.

“I know, but this isn’t easy,” replied Stone.

“Look, the only way they are going to believe you escaped is if I’m torn up. You know I wouldn’t give up without a fight—well, without losing a fight—and I don’t lose many fights.” Martin paused and tilted her head slightly. “Actually, I don’t lose fights at all.”

“Just punch her already,” interjected Orion. “The transport is waiting to pick us up. If this crazy ass plan is costing me my baby, I at least need to see this Humani get her ass kicked.”

“Fine,” replied Stone as he landed a right hand across Martin’s jaw.

Martin stumbled backward and spat blood from her mouth. “Seriously, sir,” she replied. “You hit like a girl. They have to believe this. Maybe I should have one of these Ter bitches hit me.”

“You mouthy cow!” yelled Orion as she reached across Stone and punched Martin.

Martin’s head snapped to her right but she quickly looked up with a smile. “You hit pretty good for a pilot…but that ain’t saying a lot.” She turned back toward Stone.

He could see her teeth coated with blood as she spoke.

“Come on, sir, we don’t have all day. Stop being a pussy.”

“Do you ever shut up?” asked an exasperated Mori as she walked over to Stone. “Are you going to do this or not?”

“I am. I just—”

“Screw it,” declared Mori as she grabbed Martin’s arm and pulled her body downward while crashing her knee into Martin’s nose.

Stone heard Martin’s nose crack loudly as her head recoiled and she stumbled backward against the
Hydra
’s bulkhead.

“That’s more like it,” smiled Martin as blood began to stream down her chin and onto her shirt. “I didn’t realize you swung that way, Ter. But if you want to keep giving me kisses you should ask first.”

Mori let out a groan as she brought her foot against Martin’s knee. Martin fell to her knees and Mori quickly followed with a sweeping kick against the side of her head. The impact knocked Martin to the deck, but she slowly pushed herself to her hands and knees.

“You’re getting there, pumpkin,” mumbled Martin through her swollen cheek and mouth. “Maybe—”

Before Martin could finish, Mori slammed her foot into Martin’s ribs.

Stone let out an involuntary gasp as he heard the sound of Martin’s ribs crack. He knew at least a few ribs were broken.

Martin rolled onto her back and sucked in a deep breath to control the pain.

“That’s prett—” Martin paused to spit a mouthful of blood on the floor as she rolled onto her side and slowly stood. “That’s pretty good,” she continued.

Stone could see the left side of Martin’s face already turning purple; that was in addition to her broken nose trickling blood and her swollen cheek.

“One more,” Martin taunted Mori. “Right here where your daddy kisses me.”

Before Stone could react, Mori pounced. She knocked Martin backward into a nearby seat and leapt into her lap. She then delivered a series of blows to Martin’s face.

“Stop!” shouted Stone as she pulled Mori off Martin’s battered body.

“That bitch had it coming!” growled Mori as she twisted her body free of Stone’s grasp.

“She doesn’t know about your father,” said Stone. “She’s just trying to rile you up.”

“I already hate her,” blurted Mori. “So she doesn’t need to say a fucking word. In fact, I’d rather she kept her mouth shut.”

“That…was good,” mumbled Martin, barely able to speak. “But that’s not enough,” she added as she slowly stood once again.

“What?” asked Stone. “You’re a mess.”

“Not long term,” she coughed and tensed her body from the pain of her broken ribs. “Need to lose something…if I have to have the medics regenerate something that will keep me home long enough to make the contacts.”

“Regenerate?” asked Stone, but he knew what she meant.

“She wants you to cut a hand or something off,” added Mori coldly. “Makes sense to me.”

“I can’t do that,” replied Stone.

“Yes you can,” said Martin. “They have to believe this story or they’ll kill me.”

“She’s right and you know it,” added Mori. “It’ll take months to regenerate a hand. That will be the perfect excuse to keep her on Alpha Humana.”

He knew it made sense. There was no way Martin would have allowed a prisoner to escape without taking more than a beating. Logically, the mission called for it. After a deep exhale, Stone slowly drew his sword as Martin rested her left hand on an armrest. He looked down toward her bruised and bloody face.

“You can do this sir,” said Martin as she looked up toward him.

“Do it,” added Mori.

Stone closed his eyes and let out a groan as he swiftly brought his sword downward toward Martin’s hand.

But he stopped just short of making contact. He couldn’t bring himself to do it.

“Do it!” shouted Martin.

Stone gripped his sword so tightly he could hear the sound of the leather bindings compressing against the force of his hands. She was right. He had to do it. Raising his sword again, he took a deep breath and looked into her eyes. She wanted him to do it. His body tightened as he tried to force his arms to move. But they wouldn’t respond. “Damn it!” he shouted as he threw his sword across the cargo bay. “I’m sorr—” Stone stopped as he saw Martin’s eyes shift toward Mori.

“Come on, bitch!” shouted Martin. “I know you want to.”

Stone saw the flash of Mori’s sword followed by a shriek as Martin fell backwards and her left hand fell to the floor.

“Son of a bitch!” declared Orion. “Did that just—”

“It had to be done,” replied Mori as she looked toward Stone. “You should get some meds in her and stop that bleeding before you put her in the escape pod.”

Stone quickly moved toward Martin. He knelt next to her and placed a rag over her gushing left forearm. He pressed tightly but the blood quickly soaked through and began trickling onto the deck.

“Give me the meds,” grunted Martin as she pointed to a nearby medical pack.

He quickly grabbed the pack and applied the coagulant to her wound. Almost instantly the flow of blood slowed as the bubbling gel began to interact with her blood, causing it to quickly clot.

“There,” said Stone as he leaned back on his heels.

Stone felt Martin grab his shirt with her remaining hand and pull him closer. “Pain meds would be nice.”

“Shit,” he replied as he quickly grabbed a neuro injector from the pack and shoved it into her shoulder.

“Another,” demanded Martin.

Stone nodded and injected another dose.

As Stone watched, Martin let out a slow breath as she slowly took control of her pain.

“Hey Ranger!” shouted Martin in Mori’s direction.

“What?” asked Mori as she wiped Martin’s blood from her sword with her sleeve.

“Come here.”

Mori let out a sigh and slowly walked toward Martin. “I only did what you wanted, Guardsman,” stated Mori with a content smile as she stood above Martin and Stone.

“Of course you did,” replied Martin. “You’re just supporting the mission.”

“Glad you see it that way,” replied Mori as she knelt next to Stone. “And I hate to admit it, but you took that well.”

“Anything for the mission, right?”

“Anything,” agreed Mori with another smile.

“Good,” grunted Martin as she snatched a knife from her vest with lightning speed and drove it into Mori’s thigh.

Stone fell backward from the surprise of Martin’s attack as Mori let out a groan and brought her right hand against Martin’s temple.

“Fucking bitch!” she yelled as she stumbled to her feet and drew her pistol.

“Whoa!” laughed Martin.

“Emily? Why?” asked a shocked Stone.

“The mission.” Martin smiled as she looked toward Mori, who was pointing her weapon toward Martin with one hand while putting pressure on her wound with the other.

Stone could see blood starting to stream down Mori’s leg.

“You know they wouldn’t believe I let any of you get away without drawing blood,” continued Martin as she held her bloody knife toward Mori. “Now we have blood. Thanks for volunteering.”