Warstrider: Netlink by Ian Douglas

Author:Ian Douglas [Douglas, Ian]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Space Fleet, Genetic Engineering, Space Opera, Science Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Military
Amazon: B00NO6GKVK
Publisher: War Planet Press
Published: 2014-09-28T11:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

That's the way it is in war. You win or lose, live or die—and the difference is just an eyelash.

—GENERAL OF THE ARMY DOUGLAS MACARTHUR

mid-twentieth century C.E.

Sergeant Willis Daniels gently pulled her away. "We'd better get out of here, Lieutenant."

"Of course." She felt numb. Lechenko had been one of the toughest, most experienced men in her squadron. Why did he have to die? She rubbed her ears; it was almost as though she could still hear that final, bubbling scream, a horrible sound she feared she would never be rid of.

Kara knew death; she couldn't have served with the Phantoms for as long as she had without losing friends and comrades. But never had the encounter been like this, close and personal and screaming. She felt sick. . . .

"Lieutenant, please!"

"We can't just leave him

"We can and we will," Warflyer Pritchard said. She shook her head. "We can't drag him along. . . ."

Daniels tugged at her shoulder. "Come on, Lieutenant Hagan! What would we do with him? Smuggle him out with our luggage?" When she hesitated, he added, "Gok it, L-T! Lieutenant Ferris told us he wanted us looking out for you! If you don't come, he's gonna have our heads on a platter!"

Reality reasserted itself, as cold as zero absolute. "Okay. Let's go."

The lounge area was deserted now, the civilians all fled to other areas. The four of them managed to get to the hotel's hub, where Kara hid herself and her bloodstained coveralls in the stall of a public lavatory while Phil Dolan picked up a clean set of coveralls and a can of skinsuit spray from her room. Ten minutes later, presentable once more, she followed the others out to the spin gravity module, joining them in the room being rented by Daniels and Pritchard.

"Okay, Lieutenant," Sergeant Daniels said. "Which way out are we taking? Long wait or short?"

"The short, I think," she told them. She didn't want to explain her reasoning. She just knew that, with Lech dead, she had to get out, get away from Aresynch, and the thought of staying here another week or two was too much to bear. "If we hurry, we might make it aboard one of the docked liners around the curve before they get around to sealing this section off."

"I agree," Daniels said. His persona as a Japanese businessman had given him a dark, blunt face with a long mustache, which lent him a somewhat sinister air. "I'm still worried that they might decide to start screening everyone in Aresynch for Companions."

"Aw, they wouldn't try that, would they, Sarge?" Phil Dolan asked.

"You kidding? Right now, they must be so goking mad the only thing to stop 'em from searching every person aboard this orbital is the fact they're still under attack. Once our boys on the surface get clear, well, they could be desperate enough to try it. Or something just as bad."

"Then let's stop talking about it and odie," Kara said, using the military slang term that meant to leave in a hurry.

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