Swapship Troopers Page 9

  “Yes, sir,” Quantrill agreed. It was true – Lieutenant Hardaway, for one, was smarter than any Bug. With men like him, there was no way they would lose this war. Quantrill turned and went onto the lander. His fear, at least for the moment, was gone.

  Chapter 9

  Lapis Lazuli

  The platoon was out of action for twelve whole days after Antioch. It was a welcome relief. Quantrill spent most of that time helping Gunnery Sergeant Klegg repair battle armor. They would fabricate composite panels with a robot controlled weaving machine and then load them into a curing oven. It was a mostly automated process, but took a lot of judgment to gauge if the finished product was up to snuff. Gunny Klegg rejected several armor plates that Quantrill couldn’t see a thing wrong with.

  The morning of the thirteenth day, however, Vanlanding came around and roused the men for a deployment. “Up and at ‘em,” the corporal commanded. “We’re hitting the dirt.”

  “Aww, man,” Jabara complained. “I was getting used to the life of leisure.”

  “Not me,” Jordan countered. “If I have to scrub one more deck I’m going to go insane.” Often the newer recruits got stuck with the worst jobs on the ship.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Vanlanding reassured them. “LT says this one is a milk run.”

  Quantrill climbed down from his bunk and got on his gear. Then he carefully went over everything again to make sure it was all squared away. Milk run or not, he wasn’t going to let the Lieutenant find a mistake on him.

  The squad climbed the tunnel to the central axis of the ship and boarded the waiting drop bird. This time they weren’t in such a rush and managed to avoid any embarrassing incidents. Lieutenant Hardaway was the last man on board. He sealed up the airlock and then conferred with his squad leaders. Quantrill heard the metallic clang as the docking collar disengaged. The ship lurched and then they were free floating.

  Lieutenant Hardaway raised his voice to address the platoon. “We’re dropping on an abandoned colony called Lapis Lazuli,” he announced. Quantrill had heard the name. It was in the news a while back for a big Bug attack. Ordinarily a Bug attack wouldn’t get more than a brief mention in the news stream, but Lapis Lazuli was different. The colony was set up as a tropical vacation getaway for the rich and famous. This time the Bugs were chowing down on vid stars and sports heroes and party bosses. Everyone was evacuated within a couple hours, but it was on the news every day for a month. All the streams were featuring one famous face after another telling harrowing tales of fleeing for their lives with Formids nipping at their heels.

  “Ain’t that the place where Clint Diamond wrestled a Bug with his bare hands?” some wise guy called out from the back. The famous star had given dozens of interviews about the Lapis Lazuli Massacre, each one more incredible than the last. The crack drew peals of laughter from the platoon. Hardaway only glared and the laughter stopped.

  “Nobody’s put eyes on the place since a Bug incursion six months ago,” Hardaway went on. “Command is getting curious about what’s going on down there.”

  The lander was suddenly filled with anxious grumbling. The Formids had wiped out an entire colony! Who in their right mind just dropped by for a visit? Taking back a planet was a job for an Army Division with tanks, artillery, and close air support, not a single platoon of Marines. How the hell was this a milk run?

  “All right! All right!” Hardaway growled. The men fell silent at once. “Can the whining. This was a small scale attack to begin with, despite what you may have seen on the news. Scans from orbit don’t show any Bug activity at all. There’s an excellent chance the Bugs showed up, scared the shit out of some rich assholes, and then went home again.”

  “Why go at all then?” Sergeant Prince asked. It was a question on many minds, but Prince was the only man in the platoon with enough guts to ask. “Seems like a waste of time.”

  Hardaway nodded solemnly. “Fleet Command doesn’t explain themselves to the likes of me,” he pointed out. “I do know that up until it was attacked, we were calling Lapis Lazuli an unlikely Formid target. My guess is the deep thinkers in Fleet Intel are trying to figure out what they got wrong.” He scanned the platoon. All around, men were nodding agreement.

  “So,” the Lieutenant went on, “LZ is a wide, sandy beach. Fan out in a one-thirty pattern but keep it tight. The settlement is right on the edge of the beach. We’ll secure that first.”

  The lander began to buffet, indicating they were in the lower atmosphere. They would be touching down soon. Hardaway began making his rounds of all the men, inspecting their armor and weapons.

  “Just a walk on the beach,” Jabara joked over the whine of the bird’s turbines.

  “It’s never that easy,” Quantrill insisted.

  “The LT doesn’t seem worried.”

  “He’s never worried,” Quantrill said.

  “True,” Jabara agreed with a laugh.

  The lander lurched and then was still. They were on the ground. The powerful turbines even began to cycle down. Apparently the pilot was feeling safe enough to turn off the engines and stay a while. Maybe he would get out and work on his tan. Hardaway moved to the exit ramp. “Stay focused out there!” he yelled to the men. “Don’t let your guard down!”

  The loading ramp dropped and the platoon moved quickly onto the beach. Quantrill was immediately struck by the clear, pale blue water of the ocean. It seemed to go on forever. Off in the distance, it was difficult to tell where the ocean ended and the sapphire blue sky began. Lapis Lazuli was an ocean planet, he knew. It was something like 90% water. That explained why Fleet Intel didn’t expect the Formids to attack. The Bugs had little use for water. They preferred hot, dry hunks of rock like Antioch.

  He tore his eyes away from the glittering blue ocean and turned inland. The beach was about 30 meters wide and stretched for kilos in both directions. The pale white sand extended right up to the edge of a thick forest of palm trees – a transplant from Earth that apparently did well in the tropical climate of Lapis Lazuli. Here and there a small cabin with a tall, thatched roof poked out of the trees.

  In the center straight ahead, a large building loomed over the beach. It was constructed out of simple cube shapes arranged in a complex, random design. It might have been inspired by a child dumping over a box of toy blocks. The flat, square walls were covered in blinding white adobe. Pale blue shutters decorated all the windows.

  “We’ll check out the hotel first,” Vanlanding ordered over the squad channel. So that was a hotel, Quantrill mused. It was like no hotel he’d ever seen. Of course, all of this was new to him. He’d never seen an ocean, not even back on Earth. The closest he could remember was Lake Erie, and that had become so polluted just the smell made people ill. “We’re going left,” Vanlanding added.

  A 3-meter white adobe wall stood at the foot of the hotel. On the left and the right, wide stone stairways wound upward. He headed to the one on the left. The sand was fine grained and deep, making slow going for the Marines in their heavy combat boots. They reached the stairs and climbed up to a wide patio overlooking the beach.

  At one end there was a loggia and tall, glass doors leading into the hotel. The other end had a gigantic swimming pool with an undulating curve shape. It must have been quite pretty once but now the water was murky and dark. Pool maintenance had apparently fallen behind.

  “Why would you need a swimming pool,” Quantrill asked, “when there’s an ocean right fucking over there?”

  “Why not, bro?” Potter asked with a laugh. “They can afford it.”

  “Obviously,” Jabara agreed.

  They walked around the pool and stepped over several long, low lounge chairs. Some still had towels draped over them. One had a floppy, wide brimmed hat that had been left lying on the seat. The rest of the platoon came in from the right, moving quickly but deliberately over the patio.

  Vanlanding reached the wide, glass door and slid it open. He went inside and the others followed. The power w
as out but it was as bright as day inside the abandoned hotel with all the sunlight coming through the wall of glass overlooking the patio. Tables were scattered around the room. Some even had plates and silverware set out. Quantrill saw one with a half-eaten, mummified steak. The colony had definitely emptied out in a hurry.

  Even so, there was no broken glass, no bullet holes, not even a wineglass had been tipped over. It was a quick evacuation, but clearly no battle. Not in the hotel anyway.

  “There’s nothing here,” Lieutenant Hardaway called out. “Sergeant! Stay here with Squad D and secure the hotel. Set up a perimeter. Everyone else, with me.” Hardaway marched across the room and out the front doors of the hotel.

  The hotel was at one end of a wide street paved in sand colored brick. Tall palm trees lined the grassy strip in the middle of the road. On either side, buildings were crowded along the street for about half a kilometer. Then the road disappeared into the dense forest.

  The Marines walked along the empty street. The shops and businesses were all closed up, but none had obvious damage. To all appearances the shop workers might have just closed up for lunch and would be back within the hour. Lapis Lazuli was one of the most famous Formid attacks ever, but they couldn’t find any sign the Bugs had ever been there.

  Hardaway called a halt and got together with his squad leaders. The other Marines milled about the empty street. They used the opportunity to adjust their packs and drink from their canteens. Kowalski even took a leak on one of the big palms in the middle of the road.

  “This feel like a war zone to you, Q?” Jabara asked softly.

  Quantrill shrugged and looked around. The only sound was the gentle sigh of the wind through the wide leaves of the palms and the steady beat of the surf in the distance. Now and then a bird twittered a song from the trees. “No,” he replied. “This is peaceful. More peaceful than my fucking neighborhood back home.”

  “Yeah,” Jabara agreed. “Yeah.”

  “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do,” Hardaway called out. “We’re going to split up by squad to cover more ground. But listen up! Don’t get complacent out there. There might still be surprises waiting. Understood?”

  “Yes, sir!” the platoon answered in one voice.

  “We’re on this trail off to the right,” Vanlanding announced over the squad channel. The corporal walked toward a small courtyard next to a two story, gray building labeled “Casino Lazuli.” Quantrill was disappointed to see Lieutenant Hardaway moving in the opposite direction with Tsien’s squad, but quickly pushed that feeling away to focus on the situation at hand.

  The courtyard was about twenty meters on a side with a massive stone fountain at the center. It was surrounded by a decorative, wrought iron fence. On one side a gate opened on the street. Directly opposite that a second gate led to a narrow trail into the thick forest.

  “Traveling overwatch,” Vanlanding ordered. “Five meters. I’ll take point.”

  Vanlanding moved onto the trail and the rest of the squad fell into line behind him. The shady trail was much cooler than the street. Lapis Lazuli was far more temperate than the brutal heat of Antioch – there was a pleasant, cool breeze coming in off the ocean – but it was still too warm to be running around in full body armor. The cool shade was more than welcome.

  The squad had walked a little more than a klick along the trail when they came to a wide, low building. Actually, it was little more than a thatched roof over a large platform. They went up three steps to go inside. Despite the rustic exterior, under the roof was quite modern. A full bar stood at one end – covered in bamboo for tropical atmosphere – and soft, padded chairs were scattered all around. The ceiling was crisscrossed with steel beams. The grass roof was obviously just for looks. There was a low stage at the center of the room with shiny, metal poles reaching up to the trussed ceiling.

  “Holy shit,” Jabara said and jogged over to the stage. “This is a strip club!”

  “A what?” Vanlanding asked.

  “You know,” Jabara explained. “The stage. The poles. Dancing girls go up there and take off their clothes.”

  “That’s perverse,” the Corporal grumbled.

  “I think he’s right!” Potter exclaimed. “Damn!”

  “Isn’t that sort of thing illegal?” Quantrill suggested.

  “Obeying the law is for ordinary people. Like us,” Jabara replied bitterly. Quantrill guessed he wasn’t just talking about strip clubs. He walked over to his friend and punched him on the shoulder. It wasn’t an affectionate gesture, but he hoped Jabara understood his meaning nonetheless.

  “Man,” Potter said in awe. “I wish I could come here.”

  “You are here, dumbass,” Vanlanding grumbled. “Let’s move on. We’re not here to see the sights.”

  The squad got back on the trail and walked for several more minutes. Quantrill was enjoying the outing. They were steadily climbing uphill toward the center of the island, but the incline wasn’t too strenuous. The weather was lovely and the scenery was interesting. Now and then they would catch a glimpse through the trees and see the massive blue expanse of the ocean.

  Finally they reached a clearing. Tiny huts surrounded a small, brick building in the center. These huts didn’t bother with the faux-tropical thatched roof and bamboo look of the rest of the resort. These were cheap, prefabricated units that were little more than large boxes with windows. Each had a hinged wall in place of a doorway that could be swung upward to create a small, covered patio.

  Some of these wall flaps were open with a small table and chairs or a chaise lounge set up beneath. Others were closed. The huts were packed in so close together that some had rope hammocks strung up between them. Even more had clothes lines with a few garments left out to dry, now fading in the sun.

  “This must be the employee bunks,” Quantrill mused.

  “Not exactly luxurious,” Jabara grumbled.

  “Better than a rack on Jericho,” Quantrill pointed out. Out here you had fresh air and a view of the ocean. He turned and looked out at the glittering blue expanse down below. He wouldn’t mind seeing that every morning.

  “True, that,” Jabara agreed.

  “Yo, I got something here!” Potter yelled. Jabara and Quantrill whirled around and raised their weapons. Potter was standing outside one of the huts and waving to the others. The rest of the squad rushed to his side.

  Inside the hut, the floor was coated with a crusty, brick-red stain. “Is that blood?” Jordan exclaimed.

  “I don’t know, but it sure could be,” Vanlanding replied. “I’m gonna call it in.” The corporal stepped away to connect to Lieutenant Hardaway on his helmet radio.

  The rest of the squad went through the other cabins, but didn’t find anything else of interest. The little huts were full of personal effects – things like photographs, clothes, little boxes of snack foods. It was the sort of thing Quantrill had in his own locker back on Jericho. He wondered if the people who had lived in these huts missed their stuff after the evacuation. Some billionaire built that huge hotel down on the beach, but a hotel maid who left behind her favorite hairbrush might have lost more.

  “The LT says keep searching,” Vanlanding reported. “But dial up your caution a few notches. Let’s move out.”

  The squad continued along the trail. Quantrill made an effort to focus on his surroundings – danger could be around any corner – but now and then he couldn’t resist looking through the trees at the wide open ocean. It made him feel small and insignificant, but somehow at peace as well.

  Once when he was gazing out at the water, Quantrill saw a pair of trees down the hillside that were knocked over. The thick trunks had been bent until the wood started to tear apart in a jagged fracture. “Van,” Quantrill called out. “I think you better take a look at this.”

  “Well, that sure wasn’t the wind,” Vanlanding said when he saw the broken trees. “Let’s go take a look.”

  The squad hacked their way through the thick under
brush. Quantrill had been issued an M-20 bayonet like all Marines, but he never used it. The 40 centimeter curving blade could be attached to the underside of his AR316, where it looked quite fearsome but was as useful against an armored Formid carapace as a butter knife. It would have done the trick against a tangle of vines, though, so for the first time Quantrill wished he hadn’t left the thing in his locker.

  Eventually they reached the trees Quantrill had seen from the path. The palms were bent over at a point about a meter above his head. The top half of the tree drooped down to the ground. The trunk was as big around as a man’s waist. The force to just snap it off like a popsicle stick must have been tremendous. “Could a Bug do that?” Vanlanding wondered out loud.

  Quantrill and the other Marines only shrugged. Formids were heavy as hell. On the other hand, why would a Bug climb a damn tree? “Well, Clint Diamond sure as hell didn’t do it,” Jabara said in a low rumble.

  As the rest of the squad looked up at the broken tree trunk, Quantrill walked further into the forest in the direction of the fallen tree. A few meters further on he saw another downed tree. Just past that there were two more. “Hey,” he called out to the squad. “I think it’s a trail.”

  The squad joined him and Vanlanding decided they would follow the trail of broken trees. “It’s the closest thing to battle damage that we’ve seen since we got here,” the Corporal reasoned. They followed from one damaged tree to the next along down the hillside. Each tree was clipped off lower than the last. Soon the trees were bowled over right at the root level.

  The Marines turned down a valley and saw a shallow trench had been plowed into the soil. At the end of the trench there was a huge, dark mass. A buzzard!

  Chapter 10

  The Crash

  “Shit!” Vanlanding swore. The men leaped back and dropped behind fallen tree trunks for cover. The buzzard must have come in for a wild landing, knocking over treetops all down the hillside before coming to a rest at this spot.