Last Full Measure - Michael A. Martin [88]
Hell, I made peace with dying the day I signed the recruiter’s contract, she thought.
The private channel linking her suit with Eby’s suddenly crackled to life. “Guitierrez, have you gone completely spacehappy?”
She chuckled as she toggled over to her squad-mate’s private frequency. “I suppose I have. Now, why don’t you just get back to the shuttlepod?”
His response was distorted by a howl of static that whistled like an incoming mortar round. “Because I think suicide missions are bad policy when they aren’t necessary.”
Chang, who had apparently been nonplussed by Guitierrez’s unexpected offer, seemed to have finally recovered his voice. “I want you both back aboard this boat, double-time. That’s an order.”
While Chang was speaking, Guitierrez reached for the phase rifle that was shipped across her back, her movements rendered aqueously slow by the bulky, grit-caked shoulder joints and the hard upper carapace of her environmental suit.
The rifle sprang into her hands like an obedient familiar. “Go back to the shuttlepod now, Colin,” she said, using the private channel. She kept the barrel of her weapon pointed squarely at the other MACO.
It was only then that she noticed that Eby had leveled his own rifle at her. “This is the perfect solution for your little problem, isn’t it?”
Her hands began to shake, and she found she had to fight to keep her rifle level. “What are you talking about?”
“Oh, come on, Selma. Did you think I was just kidding when I asked if you were pregnant? A few of us have been seriously wondering about it. How long did you think you could keep it hidden from the rest of the company?”
She swallowed hard, her saliva having just metamorphosed into something that felt and tasted a lot like sawdust. “I only just took the test. How…how did you know?”
“I think McKenzie was probably the first to figure it out, based on how you’ve been acting for the past week or so. And this little stunt you’re trying to pull now only confirms the rumors I’ve been hearing. Guess you’ll want to start kicking some asses over that, once you get back to Enterprise.”
If I go back to Enterprise, she thought, I’d have to thrash this whole thing out with Major Hayes. And face either the end of my career, or the end of this pregnancy. Or probably both.
She felt utterly lost, though she maintained her grip on her weapon, and continued aiming it straight at Eby’s heavily insulated midsection.
But Eby also kept his rifle leveled at Guitierrez. “This really is perfect for you, isn’t it?” he repeated. “You get to be a big hero, and wiggle out of a personal problem all at the same time. Conquering champion and craven coward, all rolled into one.”
Surprised by the sudden brashness of the usually reserved, almost shy private, she gripped her phase rifle so hard that her suit’s gauntlets seemed to be flaying both of her hands. “Shut up, Colin. You don’t understand anything.”
“Show me I’m wrong, then. Please.”
But she knew that would be useless. “If I follow through with Chang’s original plan—and waste this place—it’d be a real blow to the Xindi.”
“I suppose it would, Selma. But is it really worth getting killed over?”
“How can you even ask me that, Colin? We’re both MACOs. We fight, and sometimes we die.”
“But we usually don’t get to pick those battles, do we? Our superiors do. We follow their orders, and go where they send us. And Chang just ordered us back to base.”
She laughed mirthlessly. “Chang’s modified his own superiors’ orders often enough. Including today’s mission, if I recall the sub-commander’s original instructions correctly. I think our Fearless Leader might cut me some slack if I do the same.”
“Maybe you