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

“Aikawa has sent a message,” Ishtar put in. “Yanzay has lock from shuttle twelve.”

“Finally some good news,” Herzer said, frowning. Twelve was one of the two shuttles that would debouch almost directly to the maintenance area. Yanzay was Cruz, which would put his Blood Lord heavy team, and Geo, right by Maintenance. “Megan?”

“Sylania is three,” Megan said shaking her head as her eyes looked into the distance. He’d left Bus in Sylania.

“We’re heavy to the front,” Herzer said, frowning. “Five, though…” His eyes unfocused again.

“There isss a problem?” Ungphakorn asked, tilting his leonine head quizzically.

“We are receiving only five shuttles,” Ishtar said.

“That’s not the only problem,” Herzer said, coming out of his trance. “One of the shuttles we’re getting is going to be surrounded by New Destiny’s troops. I have to decide if the team can make it out or if they’ll be overwhelmed. But we’re looking at a twenty-two hour turnaround on the shuttles. If I leave a team on the ground, we’re going to be without them for twenty-two hours and we’ll already be outnumbered. And, bottom line, I need the pilot, badly. But I need techs, too.” He frowned and closed his eyes, aware that more than half of the Freedom Coalition Council was awaiting his decision.

“Damned if you do, honey,” Megan said. “Kick it up?”

“No, my teams, my decision,” Herzer sighed. “Councilwoman Ishtar, could you please portal Team Massa to the Alabad reactor and have them board shuttle five?”

“I will do so,” Ishtar said, fading.

“I ssshall go asss well,” Ungphakorn said. “Good luck, Icarusss.”

“Thank you, sir,” Herzer replied. “Megan, do you have enough power to connect me to Mike?”

“Easy,” Megan said, closing her eyes. In a moment a hologram of the team leader appeared.

“Mike,” Herzer said, nodding.

“Hey, boss,” Massa replied, frowning. “We don’t have a shuttle!”

“I know,” the commander said. “Look, it’s a bit worse than that. You’re going to be portaled to Alabad for shuttle five. The problem is, you’re going to be surrounded by ND forces. They’re going to have one, two, six, nine and ten.”

Massa frowned and worked his jaw for a moment, then turned to look at a layout of the ship.

“Crap,” he muttered after a moment. “You were serious when you said surrounded.”

“When you hit, have Nicole pull the injectors and EVA,” Herzer said. “Just get the hell out. At the very least, pull the injectors and try to EVA the pilot and techs.”

“Die or drop time?” Massa said, shaking his head. “Thanks for the mission.”

“Short answer,” Herzer replied, his face hard. “I need Josten. I want Nicole and Manuel. I desire you, Arje, Feng fu and Rashid. That is your priority. Is that clear?”

“Clear,” Mike said, his jaw working. “Anything else?”

“Meet me in Maintenance,” Herzer said, nodding.

“Will do,” Mike said. “Bye, Herzer.”

“Bye, Mike,” Herzer replied. “Cut it, please, Megan. Bus’s got three, we’ve got four, Van Krief’s got seven and Cruz has got twelve. Not good, but not as bad as it could be.” He stopped and shook his head unhappily. “Not as bad.”

“What was that all about?” Courtney said, looking from Herzer’s hard visage to Megan’s stricken expression.

“He just sacrificed most of Team Massa,” Layne replied, rolling to his feet. “Get it on, boss?”

“What do you mean he just sacrificed them?” Joie asked, trying to figure out what was going on.

“Shuttle five is going to have shuttles full of New Destiny troops on every side of it,” Megan said, staring at her lover as if he were a stranger. “They’ll want to take us out if they can do it and not take too many casualties. They’ll know that Mike’s team is cut off and they’ll close in on the shuttle, right?”

“Probably,” Herzer said, blowing out a breath. “They might just ignore them, but that’s a low-order probability as Geo would put it.” His jaw worked for a moment and he shrugged. “I needed Josten and Nicole.”

“So you just sent them into the middle of a swarm of New Destiny orcs?” Joie asked, angrily. “How is that going to get them to you?”

“Mike and the Lords will hold the docking doors long enough for them to EVA, if it comes to it,” Layne said, opening up his locker and looking unhappily at his space suit. “So, do we get it on?”

“Twenty minutes,” Herzer said, distantly. “It will take an hour for the shuttle to pump out, when it lands. We start getting it on when it lands.”

“So that’s it ?” Courtney said, her eyes wide. “You just throw away half the team to get two or three members. Maybe?”

“Yes, that’s it , Courtney,” Megan said, finally letting out a sigh. “Now leave him alone.”

“Leave him alone ?” Courtney shouted. “He just threw away people we’ve been training with for weeks ! Those are my friends !”

“They’re his friends, too,” Megan said, grabbing the redhead by the arm and shaking her. “So shut up !”

“You can’t just throw them away!” Courtney yelled. “Who are you going to throw away next? Me? Megan?”

“If it comes to that,” Herzer replied coldly, still looking into some unknown distance. “If the mission dictates that you have to die, Courtney, then you will have to die. That is what this is all about. Something that Mike understood, as do Arje and Feng fu and Rashid.

“They will try to keep the orcs off of the rest until they can EVA and hopefully escape on the surface. I very much hope that none of this comes to fruition. However, if all I get is Josten, I’ll consider it a win. Josten and Nicole will make it a very good choice. Manuel would be a great benefit but, frankly, we’re more short on good hands-on engineers, like Nicole, than we are computer techs. And we have more need for them with pulling the injectors.

“I had three choices. I could choose to ignore the shuttle, let it go up empty. That would leave the team on the ground for the majority of the projected mission time and it would leave the shuttle untouched. I could send up the Blood Lord pure team. They might be able to pull the injector and maybe not; it’s not a straightforward procedure. That would still leave the techs I needed on the surface but, assuming they could survive, and that’s a major assumption, the fighters might be useful. I don’t intend to fight if I can avoid it, but it might come to it. Or I could send the team. There are a few possibilities. Their shuttle might dock early and they can then run for the crew passages and evade into areas we have a tighter lock on. The New Destiny forces might avoid them and just make for the control room, assuming that the big battle will be for it. Or they could be trapped in battle in a very small place. In the latter case I trust Mike Massa to hold the damned door until most of the techs can EVA. It will then be up to them to make their way to Maintenance. As you might have noticed I had a very short time to make up my mind about all of this. I chose the latter path. And, again, if I get just Josten and Nicole I will consider it a win.”

“What if it had been our shuttle?” Joie asked, curiously.

“I would have switched with another team,” Herzer said. “By necessity it would have been Team Van Buskirk, something I thought about in advance. Sacrificing Megan is a very last choice. Somewhat after me, assuming that Cruz or Van Buskirk are still alive.”

“How can you be so cold about it?” Courtney asked, amazed.