John Ringo - East of the Sun, West of the Moon

“What do I get?” Cruz asked.

“Besides killing people and breaking things?” Herzer asked. “What do you want?”

“A commission,” Cruz said. “My record expunged. I want back in. I want in on the invasion. I swear to you, Herzer, I won’t fisk up again. I want to be in the battles. I want to die or drop, damnit,” he finished, his mask finally cracking.

Herzer looked at him for a long time, then nodded.

“I’ll try ,” he said. “I’ll have to get the duke to agree. And that incident with the bandits really pissed him off. But I’ll talk him around. No ‘deal’ to it. You do the mission as an ensign—”

“Lieutenant, for God’s sake,” Cruz said.

“Okay, lieutenant,” Herzer said, his face unreadable. “Or you don’t do it at all. But if you fisk me, now or in the future, run far and fast.”

“Got it,” Cruz said. “What’s my job?”

“When I figure that out, I’ll tell you,” Herzer said sourly. “This thing is a cluster fisk if I’ve ever seen one. I don’t actually see a good way to win. That’s why I want you to be there, because we’re going to have to change plans on the fly and I know you can keep up. You’ll have a team, that much I know. Beyond that, I’m still working on it.”

“Got it.”

“In the meantime, just keep Megan alive,” Herzer added. “You heard about the things that took down the Icarus team?”

“That’s why we were brought in on it,” Cruz said. “Nasty. But at least one of them got taken down by the team itself; the colonel killed one with a bedpost, if you’ll believe it.”

“I can,” Herzer said, sadly. “He was very good.”

“The braincase is right behind the mandibles. They’re not the solfugids that your lady was talking about, by the way. They’re more or less straightforward giant scorpions. Stinger and all, very nasty toxin, and dual metallic composite claws. Metallic mandibles as well. The carapace isn’t chitin, some sort of polycarbonate, very tough. But they’re vulnerable right at the brain case. Hit them between the eyes and they go down. Weak at the joints as well. Fighting them will be a bugger if you don’t have a shield, but you or I could take one down with a long sword. Short sword would be iffy. Long mace or halberd would be optimum. I’ve been retraining some of the Lords with both.”

Herzer nodded, filing that away.

“That is exactly why I want you,” Herzer said, finally smiling.

“Your servant, Commander,” Cruz said, cracking a smile as well.

“That’s it for now,” Herzer said, standing up. “Keep on the Detail until we move up to the training facility and then you move over to the teams.”

“Works,” Cruz said, standing up as well. “Thank you.”

“Joel’s going to scream about losing you, you know,” Herzer said.

“Well, I’ll still be around,” Cruz said, shrugging. “Somehow, I don’t think I’ll end up as a legion commander. But… I want the damned rank on my shoulders. I want to be able to say I’m somebody besides an accountant or an aide, you know?”

“I know,” Herzer admitted. “Welcome back. I hope.”

“Yeah,” Cruz said, shaking his hand. “I’ll tell you something, but you’ve got to promise that you won’t fisk me.”

“Okay,” Herzer said, frowning.

“I’ll do the mission even if you can’t get me back in,” Cruz said. “It sounds like fun. As long as I get a team command. Not just Joe Sword Fodder. But try , damnit.”

“I will,” Herzer said.

“Mike, Courtney,” Herzer said, gesturing them into the foyer. He shook Mike’s hand and gave Courtney a hug as Megan came in. “Good to see you.”

“What’s so damned important we had to wait until this evening?” Mike said, half angrily. “We were going to leave on the evening stage.”

“It had to wait until this evening because I’ve been running my ass off,” Herzer said. “And it was urgent because it’s urgent. Mike, I’m about to piss you off. Ready?”

“What?” Mike said warily.

“I have to talk to Courtney, alone,” Herzer said. “I’ve got to ask her to do something, something for… well, the nation I suppose. And it’s something I can’t discuss with you and she won’t be able to either. And it’s hazardous.”

“What in the hell are you talking about?” Mike asked angrily. “Are you crazy?”

“No, he’s not,” Megan interjected. “Herzer, and I, have a mission. We need Courtney. And some other people. We can’t, won’t, tell you what the mission is. And it’s not just going for a walk in the park, it’s going to be bad. But we need her. We can’t even tell you why because… well, because New Destiny will find out. The other people that we’re talking to, we’re going to be asking to volunteer just like Courtney. If they don’t, they’re not going anywhere until the mission is over.”

“And I can’t ask what it is?” Mike said. “Damn.” He sighed and shook his head. “Okay, I can understand that. I don’t like it, though.”

“Big surprise,” Herzer said, finally smiling.

“Why don’t we go talk farming,” Megan said, taking his arm. “And let Herzer go recruit your wife.”

“If he can,” Courtney said tartly. “Lead on, hunkaroo.”

Herzer frowned but led her to Meredith’s office.

“Have a seat,” Herzer said, gesturing at the sole chair. He perched on the weight bench.

“Been working out?” Courtney asked, sniffing the air.

“Yes,” Herzer said. “Courtney, you know there was a mission planned to try to capture the refueling ship?”

“I’d heard something about it,” Courtney replied warily.

“The team that was supposed to do the job got wiped out,” Herzer said brutally. “By an attack on their training camp. You listed a background in old-fashioned computers as a pre-Fall skill when you came to Raven’s Mill.”

“Oh, my God, you can’t be serious!” Courtney shouted.

“Thanks,” Herzer growled. “Mike needed to hear that.”

“Don’t tell me that’s what you’re talking about,” Courtney hissed. “That’s a mission for… God-damned heroes like you , Herzer! I’m a farm-wife ! I cook food all day and raise my brats !”

“And you know what a…” he paused and frowned, “a router is, right?”

“Well, yes,” Courtney replied. “It’s a device for directing electronic packets, but…”

“Courtney, I have four potential computer techs, including you, that aren’t absolutely decrepit,” Herzer said, his face hard. “I can barely do this mission with four . That ship is a mass of old-fashioned computers, most of them you can’t control from a remote terminal. I don’t even know what a remote terminal is but it says you can’t control them remotely so I trust the briefing notes. We’re going to be in trouble if we lose one tech and the more I look at this mission the more I’m worried we’ll lose all of them. Including one of my oldest and closest friends,” he added sadly.

“But, damnit, this mission is so damned important that, yes, I’m asking you ,” he continued. “There are probably more people out there. But we can’t exactly take out a classified ad. We don’t know that New Destiny knows how badly they hit us. And if we start going around broadly interviewing, that places those people in danger. Besides, we don’t have time . We’ve got to start training soon or we’re sunk. Courtney, damnit, we need you. I don’t want to be too melodramatic, but the world needs you. You. Courtney Boehlke.”