The Conscripts: Fight or Die (Blood War Book 3) (7 page)

“Two more.”

“It is going to be drunk out. Remember we have some unfinished business later,” Mala said with an intimate smile.

“Don’t you worry, there is not enough alcohol on Rift to slow me down,” Hu said with a leer.

During the battle on Rift, Hu had saved Mala’s life, not once but several times in the savage combat with hybrids. She had offered the old Legion tradition that she owed him one. What that meant was that she owed him a liberty with all of the expenses paid by her and all of the sex he could stand.

“You do have quite an appetite there, miner boy,” Mala said with a smirk.

Hu looked at her and they exchanged an affectionate glance.

“Just trying to make sure you repay me for saving your life.”

“Who saved who? At the end of the battle it was me standing over your ass because you couldn’t stand. You should be the one paying for this liberty,” Mala said.

“I didn’t have any legs. It’s damned hard to run on stumps. Besides, I carried you into that bunker before I lost my legs. Remember?”

“Yeah, but who was standing at the end counts. I’m just saying it should be you paying for this liberty, not me.”

They laughed together and leaned close.

“Well, well, look what we have here. A couple of Marine love birds. The bitch is a sergeant. I wonder if she gets on top.”

Hu looked up and saw that three Von Fleet corporate military types had walked up to their table. They all were huge, with chemically-enhanced muscles and tight black uniforms designed to show off those muscles. The biggest one, with a shaved head, reminded Hu of a Von Fleet security guard back home. During the liberty, there had been a growing animosity between the Marines and the Von Fleet military. Some of it was jealousy about the pay difference, but it was mostly about who was the best. There had been more than one fight in the city. The Military Police had put on extra patrols to try and keep the peace.

“Ain’t they cute,” the biggest one said with a smile. There was some blue discoloration around his nose. He had been dipping. Dipping made some who did it violent. It looked like these guys had dipped more than they should have.

Hu leaned back and looked up at them, then said, “You guys are a little late to the party. You do know how to read ribbons, don’t you? No, then again you probably don’t. These are my retros. I’m drop qualified and have made a combat drop. That's what the little star over on top of the retros means.”

Hu touched the small badge above his left pocket then touched the next badge. “This is my iron head. That means I’m armored infantry qualified.” Hu paused for emphasis before he touched the badge in the middle of his left breast pocket. “This nice-looking little badge is my close-combat badge. It means I’ve killed in hand-to-hand combat. It’s gold, if you notice, and that means I have killed more than three hybrids. Finally you see this little blue patch with a skull and five stars on it. That is a Marine Raider patch. That means we’re Raiders. Now why don’t you fuckin’ Von Fleet wannabes fuck off and leave us alone?”

“Looks like you're a real tough guy with a little whore girlfriend,” the biggest of the three said, pointing to Nani’s tattoo on the top of her right hand. “That’s right. I can read scanner tattoos. That’s one from out in the Autonomous Zone. I even know which whorehouse she worked in. I bet if you scanned that it would still show you how much she costs.”

“I’ve been to that whorehouse a few times. Maybe I fucked you and don’t remember,” the bullethead said with a smirk. “It was a cheap dump. Bet you could fuck her for next to nothing.”

Hu threw himself into the Von Fleet soldiers, knocking all three to the ground. He mounted the biggest one and drove an elbow into his nose. It broke with a splatter of blood. Mala was right behind him. She caught one in the side of the head with a snap kick as he tried to stand. The kick broke his jaw. He fell back unconscious. The third was on his feet. He was fast. He was up and ready. Mala just turned and waited for him to make a move. He was big and would depend on that, she thought. Sure enough he came in a rush. Mala sidestepped him and side kicked him with the edge of her foot, breaking his knee.

He screamed and bent over reaching for his knee. Mala stepped aside and drove an elbow into his kidney. He screamed again and arched his back as the pain shot through him. When he did, Mala threw her hip out, grabbed him around the neck, and flipped him onto a nearby table. It collapsed under his weight. He tried to get up then just fell back down.

Mala turned and saw that Hu was still on top of the biggest one. Hu had pounded his face into a bloody mess. He was no longer fighting back, but Hu was not stopping. He put the heel of his hand under the man’s chin to expose his throat. He raised his fist for what would be a killing blow. Without thinking Mala kicked Hu in the chest, knocking him back and off the man. He paused and looked up at Mala.

“No, Hu. Enough!”

Hu’s eyes were unfocused and his mouth drawn down in a snarl. Then Mala said something that she hoped would cut through the fury that had taken over Hu.

“Stand down, Marine!”

Through all his fury, his training kicked in. Hu blinked several times and looked at Mala as if he were seeing her for the first time.

“Enough, goddamnit, Hu! Let’s get the fuck out of here before the MPs show up!”

Hu slowly stood up and looked down at the big Von Fleet soldier. He spit. “She’s no whore, you fuck.”

Mala grabbed his arm, threw a wad of cash on the table, and dragged him out of the door into the tunnels that connected the buildings of Oheo. They raced to the first intersection and made a right. Mala could hear the MPs rushing into the restaurant. They ran down the tunnel until Mala thought they could get lost in the crowds and walked back to their hotel.

#

“What the fuck was that?” Mala snapped.

They had just entered their room. Hu was sitting on the bed staring down at the floor.

“He called you a whore,” Hu mumbled.

“That’s what I was, Hu. You know that. My wonderful aunt and uncle sold me to the brothel when I thirteen. They always tattoo the girls. I was a whore for close to ten years. I don’t care who knows it and you know that. So what was that all about?”

Hu hesitated then looked up at her. “You know what Von Fleet is doing. They claimed my DNA was theirs so they’re suing the Confederation because I was engineered to be a miner on one of their planets. In the meantime my wages are garnished.”

“I also know that everyone in the battalion is kicking in so you have your regular pay until this thing gets straightened out. That’s not where all of this came from. It was your excuse.”

Hu looked up at her hard, beautiful face. She knew him too well. His face changed. Real pain contorted his features as he said, “No, I guess it was about the children.”

Mala knelt in front of him. “You think? You haven’t talked about 703 since we got back. Now talk.”

Hu stood and began pacing. “You saw what they did to those children. The Xotoli experimented on them. They were…they were…God, what they did to them.”

“Yes, baby, and.…”

Hu paused and looked at her. Mala put her hand gently against his face.

“You know the Xotoli occupied my old home planet. A Von Fleet planet no less, just like 703. They have my parents.…” Hu had to take a breath before he could go on. “They have my little sisters. All I could think of was my little sisters on Von Fleet 69. Maybe if those big fucks had been out there doing their job, the Xotoli wouldn’t have been able to occupy it.”

Hu paused, his face a mask of fear. “I have dreams. My sisters’ faces are on those poor children. The Xotoli have them. They're doing the same to my sisters.” He struggled to say the words. “They have my sisters.”

He stood and walked a few steps, then slowly dropped to his knees and began to pound his fists on his thighs in frustration. Mala went to him and knelt beside him. She took him in her arms and held him.

“What can I do? I can’t do anything. I want to hurt someone, something. I want to protect my sisters. I’m their big brother.”

Mala took his face in her hands. There were tears of frustration and rage in his eyes.

“Baby, you are doing the only thing you can. You are a Marine. We will go back. We will save them.”

“It’s too late. You know it,” Hu said.

“I don’t know it. I do know that lots of strange happens in this universe of ours and you never know what the deal is until you see it. If someone had told me I would end up in a Marine uniform on Rift when I was back in that brothel, I would’ve thought they had dipped a little too much. No, all I know is what I see and nothing else.”

Mala held him close. She unbuttoned her blouse and held him against her naked breasts. Slowly the tension left him. When she felt him relax, she began to make love to him. She wanted to give him a safe place to forget those terrible visions in his head. She decided to use all of the old tricks she had learned in her years in the brothel to make their lovemaking as intense as she could. He needed the release. As he responded to her manipulations, Mala thought maybe those years were worth something after all.

Rigel Kent System

Intina

Penal Training Camp 12

1st Battalion

Alpha Company

Platoon Thirteen

Boot camp was coming to an end. They only had two weeks until they were assigned to a unit. Dieter, with the rest of the platoon, was in the chow hall cramming down as much food as he could before returning to the barracks for the night. Sergeant Mati stood at the end of the table, her arms crossed as she watched the platoon eat. Two huge Von Fleet security guards dressed in their black uniforms walked into the chow hall and approached Mati. They towered over her and carried themselves with the arrogance of the power the Von Fleet uniform gave them. Mati looked up at them and scowled, then said, “What do you want?”

“We are here for Ardan.”

The guard handed Mati his pad. Mati looked down at the display carefully. When Ardan heard his name, he looked up. His face went white when he saw the two guards. While Mati’s attention was on the pad, one of the guards turned and found Ardan. He smirked. Ardan stopped eating. Dieter saw Ardan’s reaction and leaned close enough to whisper.

“Those are the two,” Ardan said.

“What?”

“Those are the two guards who raped me that night before our trial,” Ardan whispered.

Dieter glanced over at the guards. Ardan was right. They were the guards from the prison on Chava. Dieter felt a knot of fear in his stomach. What were they doing here? What could they possibly want?

“The company commander has to sign this. I won’t give you the recruit until you have that signature,” Sergeant Mati said, looking up at the two.

“Listen—” one of the guards began.

Mati cut him off with a sharp look and barked, “Leave! When you come back with a signature, I will hand him over to you, and only then. Now leave.”

Mati’s gaze followed the two guards until they had left the chow hall. Then she turned and said, “Ardan, report.”

Ardan jumped up and reported to Mati. He stood at attention in front of her. Dieter could not hear what she was saying to him. He glanced across the table at Minga. Their eyes met and Dieter motioned with his head toward Mati and Ardan. They stood and marched up to the pair.

“What the fuck is going on?” Mati growled.

“Permission to speak,” Dieter said.

“Speak.”

“Those are the guards who raped Ardan while we were awaiting trial.”

Mati’s hard eyes actually looked surprised. She turned to Ardan. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Ardan could only blush. Mati’s hard eyes swept over the three recruits.

“Listen, the orders look trumped up. It doesn’t smell right to me. Don’t worry, I am not going to let those kaks take you.”

Mati paused and looked from one to the other of them before she said quietly, so only they could hear her, “Unless you want some payback, Ardan.”

Dieter watched as Ardan’s face changed. He was the best hand-to-hand fighter in the platoon.

“Yes, ma’am,” Ardan said.

“You two want in?” Mati said.

Dieter remembered Ardan’s screams that night and how he had realized it was only luck they had not come for him. He glanced at Minga. She had put on thirty pounds of muscle in the last months. This was the first time in her life she’d had three meals a day. The other platoon members had begun calling her Amazon and she'd adopted it as her nickname. She nodded to Dieter.

“Yes, ma’am,” Dieter and Minga said as one.

“Good. Never let a squad mate down. Always have their back. Now the three of you return to your meals. I will take care of the rest.”

They finished evening chow in silence. Dieter’s stomach was knotted in fear or excitement—he could not tell which. He and the rest of the platoon were sitting on their footlockers cleaning their weapons when the two guards returned. They both had big smirks on their faces. Sergeant Mati had been slowly walking up and down the squad bay watching each recruit carefully. She glanced up and saw the two guards. She sauntered up them.

“Here you go, Sergeant. All the authorizations you need.”

Sergeant Mati took the pad and looked at it carefully. “Looks like everything is correct. Ardan, Fenes, Minga, here on the double,” Mati snapped.

One of the guards looked puzzled. “We don’t need the other two.”

“Orders. Only we can escort a prisoner to the gate. I’ll turn him over to you when we get out of the company area.”

Ardan, Dieter, and Minga reported to Mati. In unison they yelled, “Reporting as ordered, ma’am!”

Mati looked at Ardan and said, “Looks like they have orders to return you to Chava for a new trial. You two will escort him out of the company area.”

One of the big guards leaned over and whispered something to Ardan. He did not flinch and stared straight ahead. His face seemed to harden with each word.

“All right, enough of that shit,” Mati growled at the guard.

Mati turned and led them out of the barracks into the cold black night. There were few lights illuminating the sidewalk as they marched along, just pools of light in the darkness. It was an almost theatrical setting for what was about to happen, Dieter thought. When they reached the mess hall, Mati turned to her right down another sidewalk that led behind the mess hall. The three recruits followed her. The two guards stopped and looked at one another in puzzlement.