Nicholas Smith - Hell Divers

Ash’s face hardened. “Look, I’m not going to apologize for my decision to attempt a rescue mission. I had the future of the human race in mind.”

“And you fucked humanity in the process,” Cruise grumbled.

“You forget yourself, Commander,” Ash said. “Now, the past is behind us. I suggest you leave it there. We have to look at the future. If you can’t deal with it, get out. Now. We’ll manage without you.” She was breathing heavily.

He looked at the ceiling, then back at her. “I don’t have any other choice. If I don’t go, we’re all dead anyway, right?”

“Without your team, probably.” After letting her reply hang in the air for a moment, she said, “Lieutenant, show us Hades.”

The map flickered, and the red zone appeared over the table. Jordan leaned closer to examine a nav flag in the middle of the transparent layers.

“The fuel cells and other parts Samson has requested will be in one of the buildings outside the HQ.”

Tony tapped a finger on the table. “We don’t know which one?”

Jordan shook his head.

Ash took over. “As you already know, Hades has the most severe conditions on the planet. The radiation and freezing temperatures make it, for lack of a better word, hell on earth. But this is it, gentlemen. Either we dive to Hades and bring back fuel cells and pressure valves, or we die. Pretty simple.”

All the HDs nodded, even Cruise.

“All right. What’s the plan, Captain?” X asked.

“I’m breaking protocol. Instead of sending in one team, I’m sending in our remaining three. It’ll give us the best chance.”

“When?” Cruise asked.

“Tomorrow.”

“I’d better get busy drinking and screwing, then,” Cruise replied. “Because it’ll be my last chance.”

X started to get up and give Cruise the ass-chewing he had been saving all day, but Jordan spoke first.

“There may be one other option,” he said. “I discovered another facility outside the borders of Hades. I checked right before the meeting, and it’s outside the electrical storm, too.”

X sat forward.

“I’m sorry I didn’t have time to tell you yet, Captain, but you were in engineering,” Jordan added.

“Show me,” Ash said.

Jordan keyed in a string of commands on the monitor in front of him, and the topographic map expanded over the table. He punched in another command that zoomed in on a hexagonal building.

“This is an ITC factory on the outskirts of Hades. The Hive ’s computers show they produced nuclear fuel cells and parts for the ship’s generators. The problem is, we don’t know if it still exists.”

Ash leaned closer to the table, studying the building. “Do you think Captain Willis knew about this?”

“I’m not sure,” Jordan replied. “It took some digging to find it. Even if he knew about it, he may have abandoned the idea. As I said, I’m not sure it’s even still there.”

Ash unbuttoned the top of her uniform and massaged her neck. She glanced over at X. He knew what was coming. She was about to ask him a question he couldn’t answer.

“X, do you think it’s worth the risk of exploring?”

“Hard to say, Captain. I’ve made plenty of dives to facilities that turned out to be piles of rubble or craters in the ground.”

“But this is an ITC facility,” Jordan said. “They were built to last. I think it’s worth checking out. We have forty-eight hours of backup power. We can attempt this dive with one team. If they fail, we still have time to dive into Hades with the other two.”

Ash looked deep in thought. “There might end up being nothing down there, but it’s worth a shot. I’d rather risk one team outside the storm than send you all down to Hades.”

“Agreed,” Cruise said. “Who you going to send?”

He was testing the waters, but X already knew who Ash was going to send. He was the best diver she had, and Murph, Sam, and Magnolia were all still fresh. They were expendable. If he were in her shoes, he would do the same thing.

“Raptor,” Ash said, staring at X. “They dive first thing tomorrow morning, once Samson stabilizes the ship.”

X immediately thought of Tin. Any chance of sitting this one out and staying with the boy vanished with the critical news. He had promised Aaron to look after Tin, but Cruise was right about one thing: if the Hell Divers didn’t jump, the kid and everyone else was dead anyway.

Candlelight flickered through the open doors of the private mess hall. The light beckoned X and his team toward the sound of raised voices. Words and laughter blended together, tinged with both excitement and fear. The same as before every dive.

X paused outside the entrance, studying the assault rifles the two Militia soldiers held. With the Hive on lockdown, Ash must have ordered the big guns out. The warm light glimmered off their mirrored visors as the faceless men acknowledged Team Raptor with slight nods.

“Sounds like we’re late to dinner,” Murph said. He pulled his goggles down over his forehead and ran a hand through his fiery-red hair.

“What the hell are they celebrating inside?” Magnolia asked. “Our impending deaths?”

X sighed. “It’s tradition. You know that. The night before a dive, all of us get together. Drink. Eat. Some of us fu…”

Magnolia chuckled at his slip as the team walked into the mess hall together. The soldiers sealed the doors behind them. Large candles burned on the two rows of tables, which were littered with empty mugs and plates. Teams Apollo and Angel had gotten a head start. The divers sat intermingled on the benches. They weren’t separate teams tonight. Tonight, they were the same.

Tony and Cruise both stood unsteadily to greet X. They had a head start on him in more than just the food. Well beyond buzzed, they were fast moving toward falling-down drunk. And from the looks of it, so were half the other divers.

“Glad you finally made it,” Cruise said. He stumbled slightly, beer sloshing out of his mug.

Tony called out to Katrina, who was getting refills for her team. “A round for everyone on Raptor!”

She grabbed three full mugs and a glass of ’shine. X watched her move across the room. A smile dimpled her flushed cheeks as she handed him the ’shine.

“Thanks,” he said.

Katrina winked and returned to her seat.

When everyone had a drink, Tony said, “Well, what the hell is everybody waiting for? The fat lady’s already sung nekkid. So let’s toast.”

“To what?” Magnolia asked.

“To life,” Tony said.

“And all those who lost theirs,” X said, raising his glass. He thought of Aaron, Will, Rodney, and all of the others as the ’shine burned a path from his throat to his belly.

He found an empty seat and motioned for his team to join him. A feast awaited them. Bowls of steaming noodles. Plates packed high with squash, spinach, and tomatoes. There were even apples. For a moment, X recalled the hungry, pinched faces of the lower-deckers. None of them had ever eaten this well, not once in all their lives. Meanwhile, he and the other divers were treated to a feast like this one before every dive. It didn’t seem fair.

“This seat taken?” Murph asked.

X bit off the end of a carrot, relishing the sweetish crunch, and scooted over. Sam took a seat across the table, next to Magnolia. Her jaw moved as if she was holding back words; then her shoulders sagged.

After a swig of ’shine, X told her, “Just say it.”

Spreading both hands on the table before her, Magnolia said, “Okay. You all know I was sentenced to prison. Stealing, mostly. When Lieutenant Jordan gave me the choice, I thought anything would be better than rotting in a cell not much bigger than this table.”