Юн Ли - Revenant Gun

“I’ll come along,” Jedao said. “I’d rather not have those things on me, though.”

“Sir, I must insist,” the sergeant said.

The soldier with the restraints signaled frantically with his eyebrows that he didn’t want to get into a wrestling match over this. The sergeant signaled back with a combination of eyebrows and hand motions. Under other circumstances, Jedao would have enjoyed watching the exchange, but he did need to recover his command.

Jedao didn’t want to initiate hostilities. But the situation was only growing worse. He consulted the othersense. The faraway swarms that he recognized as Inesser’s were in bad shape. In particular, the largest one, Inesser’s cindermoth, had stopped firing down the incoming flock of missiles, which meant their point defenses had gone down. He had to intervene before this turned into a senseless massacre.

“Fuck this,” Jedao said, losing patience. He was guessing that these Kel didn’t have much experience taking generals into custody or they’d have trussed him up already. He snatched the restraints out of the soldier’s hands and snared another’s hands in them. “You’re wasting everyone’s time.”

The sergeant’s entire face pulled downward. “I warned you, sir.” She gestured sharply.

Four bullets slammed into Jedao. One took him in the side of the head, another in the neck. The third hit him in center of mass, blowing out most of his chest. The last whined over his shoulder, missing him by a meter. In the scatter-shock moment before the pain registered, he thought, Someone needs more time at the firing range.

Jedao fell ungracefully on his side. His elbow and left hip were going to sport spectacular bruises. Funny how the mind fixed on ridiculous details. His augment had jolted back on and was offering diagnostics that he was too stupid with shock to interpret.

One of the soldiers was waving her gun around in an entirely unsafe manner, terrible muzzle control, and shouting at the sergeant: “Fucking hell, sir, what are we supposed to do now?”

“He’s the fucking Immolation Fox, he wasn’t supposed to go down that easy!” the sergeant yelled back.

Jedao clambered back to his feet. His vision had blurred, and patches of darkness encroached on every side. But the proprioception had, if anything, strengthened. “Excuse me,” he said, forcing the words past his teeth. His mouth was filled with blood, and controlling individual muscles took all his concentration. “I’m still here. Could we get on with this?”

The sergeant blanched. “How—how—”

Jedao would have liked an answer to that question himself, since by all rights he should be dead or well on the way to it. But the emergency hadn’t gone away. He lurched toward the soldier to the sergeant’s side and plucked the gun out of his grasp. “Thank you,” Jedao mumbled. For some reason that basic courtesy caused the unlucky soldier to piss himself. He started babbling in a language Jedao didn’t recognize. “That’ll be handy.”

He could see the application of unkillable soldiers. It was proving useful right now. At the same time, he didn’t enjoy feeling like a freak, and judging from the Kel squad’s reactions, they hadn’t had any idea about this either. He bet Kujen would have answers, if he ever got the chance to ask the questions.

Jedao shifted the gun just slightly, pointing it several inches to the right of the sergeant’s head. She backed away from him, sweat trickling down her face. He couldn’t see why she was so worried. If he genuinely wanted to threaten her, he’d already have shot her. Admittedly, she might be worried about ricochets if he started randomly pulling the trigger.

(So he also knew how to use a handgun. Useful, if disconcerting. He hoped he didn’t have to reload the damn thing in a hurry.)

“I believe you said the commander’s waiting?” Jedao said.

This time the sergeant didn’t argue.

Despite Jedao’s difficulty walking, he kept his gun pointed to the right of the sergeant’s head, and away from anybody else. Although he was outnumbered, the Kel squad didn’t know what to do with someone who wouldn’t go down when shot. He couldn’t blame them. They hadn’t kept trying, also interesting. Pragmatism, shock, or worry that they’d kill him inadvertently?

The sergeant preceded him into the command center. Talaw, sitting in their accustomed seat, began to snap a reprimand, then stared at Jedao. “General Jedao,” Talaw said in a brittle voice.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Jedao said. Speaking took all his concentration when he was having difficulty keeping his head from lolling to the side. Keeping track of all his body parts was proving troublesome. “Status of the battle, Commander?”

Talaw’s gaze dropped to a display at their side, then back up to Jedao’s face. They smiled mirthlessly. “The hexarch—”

“The hexarch isn’t here.” Jedao was impressed that no one had opened fire on him, but either they were too horrified to attempt anything or the blood leaking down the side of his neck and from the hole in his chest was as distracting to them as it was to him.

Talaw glared at him. “I don’t see that I owe any information to an inhuman walking corpse.”

He couldn’t disregard the challenge to his authority. On the other hand, threatening his crew was unsustainable, especially if he wanted them to continue being his crew. With a slowness that wasn’t all theater, he shoved the gun into his belt. He hoped it wouldn’t randomly discharge into his thigh. His luck held, if you could call it that.

“I would prefer to have your cooperation, Commander.” Jedao decided he might as well use his smile as a weapon, since everyone reacted to it like one. He focused on the othersense, on interpreting what it told him. “The Three Kestrels Three Suns lost its point defenses a few seconds before your squad tried to apprehend me,” he said. “The swarm is in disarray. You’re about to destroy it.”

Talaw looked shaken in spite of themselves. “A good guess. And irrelevant, in any case. You can’t save it from its fate.”

Jedao was sure his grin was ghastly. “Can’t I?” He swung slowly around, meeting each Kel’s gaze in turn. “Countermand,” he said. “I have no intention of destroying the protector-general.” Demanding Inesser’s surrender would result in another intervention from Kujen. He’d have to salvage the situation otherwise. “Retreat to Second Tactical’s current position.”

He might be an inhuman walking corpse, but he was the inhuman walking corpse offering them a way to save the general they’d rather be serving.

Talaw ground out, “The hexarch has ordered otherwise.” But they were tempted. He could see it in Talaw’s rigid jaw.

Jedao peeled off first one glove, then the other, and flung them at Talaw’s feet. The command center plummeted silent, except for the sound of dripping blood. “I’ll take that up with the hexarch myself when I see him next. I am your general.” He didn’t like leaning on formation instinct, but he was out of options. “ Turn the swarm around .”

Everyone’s eyes were drawn not to the gloves, but to the gun in Jedao’s belt. Talaw was breathing shallowly, and too fast.

I don’t have time for this , Jedao thought. He couldn’t countenance the slaughter of Inesser and her troops, not when they’d already been defeated. But neither did he want to risk the lives of his own soldiers. Inesser might be able to regroup for a counterattack, even now. He needed to resolve this quickly.

Jedao staggered toward Talaw’s seat. Blood continued to drip. He glanced down and saw that it was a sluggish black, not red. Shit. That couldn’t mean anything good.