Undead Marine by J.N. Chaney & Jonathan P. Brazee

Author:J.N. Chaney & Jonathan P. Brazee [Chaney, J.N. & Brazee, Jonathan P.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Variant Publications
Published: 2024-06-29T00:00:00+00:00

1 Light bird: slang for a lieutenant colonel

2 SAR: Search and Rescue

21

Olivia nudged Pax’s foot, waking him. He groaned and turned over. The hard cement floor of the dilapidated supply shed they were using as housing did nothing for his tired body.

“Leave me alone,” he said before the rustling around him caught his attention.

He opened his eyes to see the lieutenant and gunny moving to the center of the shed. His brain fuzz immediately vanished as he sat up.

“We going home?” Wolf asked.

The lieutenant waited until she had everyone’s attention before she said, “I’ve been in contact with Colonel Owusu. Our VIP is still alive.”

Pax raised his eyebrows and exchanged glances with Olivia. Either the Lemon’s Hold Guard were poor shots or the VIP hadn’t been where he was reported to be.

“He has also. . . I’m not quite sure how to put this.”

“The lieutenant colonel has said he intends to remain among the living, and that he’s now protected from more ‘inadvertent barrages,’ is how he put it,” Gunny Akai interjected.

“Well, right. That about sums it up,” the platoon commander said. “So . . .”

She touched her wrist, and a 3D map holo materialized in the center of the shed.

“The VIP is located somewhere in this grid square.”

A box appeared, bordered in red. It was about a klick and a half by a klick and a half and encompassed some rough terrain.

“We can’t narrow it down any more than this.”

That didn’t make sense to Pax. With any tracker, the location was down to half a meter at most.

“To further complicate matters, there is significant pede activity in the area.”

“They know the VIP is there,” Olivia whispered, pronouncing V-I-P as “vip.”

“The command has decided that we need to go in and get him, so we’ll be going with Plan C.”

“Rescue or kill mission?” Byeon asked the question on everyone’s mind.

“Rescue, if possible.”

So, get him out if we can, but kill him if he’s going to be captured.

Pax was not happy about that possibility. He wasn’t even sure he could pull the trigger if it came to that.

“There are some changes, though. There’s already been some pushback because of the Banshee mission.”

That caught Pax’s attention. Pushback? That might mean that the top brass didn’t know about the Banshee salvo. Maybe someone lower on the chain took the initiative?

“So, this is going to be a minimal footprint. We are not going in full strength. The mission will be conducted with three two-person teams.”

There was an immediate murmur in response. Plan C had the entire platoon infiltrating in and covering the search area in a grid pattern.

Three teams? To find some officer in the middle of a bunch of pedes?

“The three teams will depart in two hours. This is going to take some quick adjusting, so I’m going to name the teams now. You six need to huddle up with the gunny and me to work this out. The rest of you, well, I’ve got nothing. Just stand by. Things could change in a heartbeat.”

She paused a moment, then said, “Gunny, if you can announce the teams?”

“First Team.

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