Children of Steel Read online

  So I waited for them to come at me, the rules were basically the same I had fought under in all those nameless bars before. I waited till they got themselves sorted out; I even let them take the first swing. I let the anger that their harassment had been stoking out full force then. I went through the first guy so fast the other two didn't even get a chance to attack me from behind. I threw his unconscious body at the corporal, and while he untangled himself from that I broke the other one's leg and left him on the floor.

  I took my time with the corporal, I could see he was worried but I had to give him credit, he never showed any fear. He did turn out to be better than the other two, but he was still way out of his class and I let him know it. The fight lasted maybe three minutes total, and two of those were just my beating on him. Once I'd had enough and knocked him out I just turned and looked around at everybody watching. I had barely even worked up a sweat, the eight hours a day of exercising that I had been doing since I left Woodstock had paid off.

  "Enough of the amateurs," I could feel the blood singing in my veins, I wanted a fight! "Who's the platoon Champion?"

  One of the Tigers got up and sauntered out into the center of the floor. The others had been carried off it by now.

  "Think you can?" he asked smiling at me.

  I looked him over; he was a big one, bigger than Marcus. But not that much. I turned to the Lieutenant, "Put all my winnings on me!" I growled, then I turned back, bowed, and attacked.

  It was a good fight; he was big enough that I could let him have everything I had. It lasted maybe twenty minutes and we were both covered with blood by the time it was over. What finally ended it was the same trick I had used three years ago back at that first bar Herza had taken me to. He was feeling cocky as he had just broken my arm, so when I faked, he came in and I laid him out with the spinning hook to the head.

  The silence was deafening, I staggered over to the Lieutenant and got my winnings. Then I keeled over myself.

  I came to in the Sick Bay next to the former champ. We were both bandaged up pretty good, he had a broken fibula from blocking one of my leg shots, and we both had a few broken ribs, plus a lot of cuts.

  "I guess you could, huh?" He said smiling at me. The nurse was bandaging his head.

  "As one of my mentors once taught me, 'Attitude is everything'," I checked the temporary cast on my arm. "You should never have broken my arm," I smiled for the first time since coming onboard. "It just made me angry."

  "I guess!" He actually laughed.

  I was surprised, I was always in a bad mood after a loss.

  "No hard feelings?" he asked still smiling.

  "Of course not, hell I won!"

  "This time. I don't plan on falling for that gambit next time." he laughed, "Haven't been beaten by a leopard in a long time though!"

  "I don't plan on a rematch," I told him bluntly, "I really have no desire to be the local champ, I just wanted everybody to realize I'm not somebody to be screwing around with!"

  "Oh, I'm sure they got the message loud and clear. But I still want a rematch, just so I know whether or not you got lucky."

  "We'll see." I thought a second, "You know I could use a better sparing partner. Most of the troops just aren't up to my standards, and I don't think I have to worry about hurting you too much."

  He laughed again at that, "You sound like somebody with a lot of anger to work out!"

  "More than a lot," I replied quietly and cut off further conversation by closing my eyes and going back to sleep.

  The fallout of the match was pretty typical I guess. I was removed from the second squad and given the number two spot in the fifth one. This was the squad where all the worst trouble makers in the block ended up. So it was usual to put the toughest people in the block in charge of it. The Tiger I had fought, John was his name, was the Sergeant in charge and now I was his second in command.

  The first thing I did was drag the two leopards that made up my half squad into the fresher by their tails, literally. They were not happy of course.

  "Listen," I growled at them, "I'm going to make it really simple for you. If either of you screw up and keep me from killing those ani-murdering fanatics, I'll kill you two instead!" I looked at both of them, "Is that understood?"

  They just looked at each other then, so I jumped them both and beat the living daylights out of them. I still had so much anger on tap neither one of them really stood much of a chance.

  "In the future, I expect an immediate answer to all of my commands!" I looked at them sprawled out on the floor, "Is that understood?"

  This time they didn't hesitate a second, "Yes Sir!"

  "Good, now that we've had this little discussion I trust that in the future you'll be sure to keep out of trouble, or a least not get caught!" I strode out of the 'fresher and went back to the Hold.

  "Any problem with your new troops?" Asked John with a smile.

  "No, I think I got the point across of just where the line is." I looked at the Tiger and the Jag who made up the other half of the squad. While they were under me as well, I wouldn't be expected to work with them as close as John would. So I wasn't about to beat them up unless they gave me a good reason.

  "I trust neither of you gentlemen have a problem with Mr. Rakir assuming the number two spot in this squad?" John asked them both and they came to attention.

  "No Sir!" Came the quick reply.

  "I didn't think you would," he said sternly, but still smiling. He motioned to me then and we walked away from the others, "Clem and Russ won't cause you any trouble, at least not while on duty. They're followers more than leaders and tend to get into whatever trouble somebody else starts." At this point my two troops entered and dragged themselves over with the rest. "Those two however tend to start trouble on a regular basis if they can't find any that's already there."

  "I think a relationship based on understanding will change that." I smiled ruefully to myself then.

  "Oh? And how does that work?"

  "Simple, they understand that I'll kill them both if they screw up big time."

  "I always thought my old second was way too nice," he said as we walked back over.

  I started in on the training of Hess and Marko, my two 'problem children' right away. I was happy to find out that they were actually fairly decent soldiers, and looked forward to the idea of combat almost as much as I did. They just had a tendency to test the limits of authority on a regular basis. I taught them the difference between testing authority and testing my patience. They learned quickly to steer clear of the later, as I had none.

  24

  I received several invitations to spend the night from the ladies onboard after that of course. But I still couldn't develop an interest in any of them, so I politely turned them all down. I did go to the Clan meeting that Saturday however, I had thought about staying away, but felt it would be unhealthy. I also felt sorry for whoever would get sent to fetch me.

  I showed up on time, the meeting was being held in the hold of course, it was the only place large enough. I greeted the clan head, who was the block's senior NCO. He was in his thirties and the oldest Leopard onboard which was why he was clan head, even though the Lieutenant ranked him.

  "Greetings Raj, and welcome to the clan!" he smiled effusively, "I've been told that you're keeping to yourself, care to explain that?"

  "I'm still mourning my loss," I said quietly.

  "I see," he said thoughtfully, "I strongly suggest you change your ways a little then. The companionship would do you good."

  "Is that a ruling?" I asked grimacing painfully.

  "Not yet, but if I see you continue to totally isolate yourself, it will be."

  "I'll try," I promised, then found a nice spot on the fringe of things and lay down. I was laying there, eyes half closed with my hands propping up my chin and doing my best to try and enjoy the atmosphere, when I suddenly noticed there was somebody standing in front of me. I opened my eyes and looked up at her. She was around my
age, about five eleven, which was tall for a female leopard, but was attractively built with a nice trim muscular figure that I normally would have been chasing all over the ship. I had noticed her before of course, it was hard not too.

  "Mind if I join you?" she asked as she lay down with me.

  "No, but you're wasting your time," I replied non-committally.

  "I don't think so," she purred leaning against me.

  "Look, I'm really not good company right now, and I've been turning down everybody. So maybe you'd like to reconsider?"

  "Nope, your roommate has been complaining that since you never spend time with anybody else, he's being forced to do without himself."

  "I hadn't considered that.” I thought about it a moment, “I promise to try and give him more chances at entertaining company, okay?" I was suddenly embarrassed.

  "Seeing how you're going to be sleeping in my bed tonight, I think that the problem will clear up, don't you?" she purred again.

  I looked over at her, "Umm, excuse me?"

  She turned and smiled sweetly at me with half lidded eyes, "It's non-negotiable Raj, you don't have a choice!"

  "Did the Clan put you up to this?" I asked looking around. Nobody was paying us the slightest bit of attention.

  "Do you really think that Hamilton would bother me with this?" she leered then, "This is for the good of the platoon of course!"

  "What, getting my roommate laid?" I asked unable to keep from smiling.

  "No, my getting my claws on you!" she snickered at my shocked expression. "It's good to see some kind of rise out of you! Here, make yourself useful," and she handed me a brush.

  I looked at it, then at her. She just stretched out in front of me waiting. So I brushed out her fur. After I had finished she returned the favor, fairly typical behavior for a clan meeting. But I did notice that we were left pretty much to ourselves, which was fine with me, this one individual was more than enough for me to deal with.

  When the meeting started breaking up, she grabbed my wrist and dragged me to her room.

  "I wasn't kidding in there!" She smiled again; she had a nice one I'll admit.

  "But just sleep, okay?" I insisted, "Nothing else."

  "Fine, don't worry." she laughed, "I promise not to rape you!"

  We went into her room then and crawled into bed. I had to admit that it was nice to have someone to hold again. I hadn't realized just how much I had missed it, and true to her word she didn't bother me for anything more. When we woke up the next morning she was looking at me concerned.

  "What's wrong?" I asked.

  "You cried out several times in your sleep last night," she said looking at me closely. "You're still having a hard time of it aren't you?"

  "Some," I admitted painfully, "And last night I did have some bad dreams. I warned you."

  "Well I think you're going to stay with me for a while, it's obvious you need somebody to take care of you."

  "I think I can take care of myself," I growled.

  "Not from where I sit you can't," she growled back. "You're sleeping here from now on and that's final."

  "Oh really?" I replied coldly.

  "Care to bet on it then?" she grinned nastily back at me.

  She won of course, but then I received orders officially changing my room assignment. When I accused her of cheating, she just smiled.

  From then on I slept in her quarters, usually with her. She was absent on occasion, I was still being celibate and I know she wasn't. But we did become friends, she gave me the company I guess I needed and was helping me find the peace I know I desired.

  About three weeks later we were getting ready for our first strike. We had left jump nearly two weeks previously, coming out well outside the system so as not to be observed. The Falcon was small enough to be missed by most standard detection systems and was well masked against most military ones as well. Even the normal space drives had baffles to further obscure detection.

  So we would creep in towards our objective at relatively low speeds, spending two or so weeks in normal space. There were other methods available to the Falcon's Captain, but this one allowed us time to gather what local intelligence we could.

  Our first strike was at a 'secret' training camp for the group which had attacked Arboral. It wasn't heavily defended as they figured that not only was it a secret, but who would waste time on troops that still weren't combat ready. Pretty stupid, huh?

  I think they just didn't have the money and the backing to afford a good defense, and probably gave that line out to the new recruits to keep them from worrying. Or maybe they just didn't figure anybody would be able to mount a strike without them knowing. I don't know really, they obviously hadn't spent too much time studying Tri-Star or any of the other Big Corporations if they expected not to get a response. Maybe they were just being used by some other corporation and fed a load of crap, or maybe they had a lot more confidence in their spies.

  Whatever, it really didn't matter, we were going in to pull a quick hit and run. The two ships that were standing guard were more than enough for the Falcon, if they caught her that is. As they were stationed eight hours out from the planet, we figured we had about four hours to do our thing.

  Sneaking past them was really a pretty simple affair, Captain Avera let the drives cool for a few days and we coasted past totally unnoticed.

  The plan for the strike itself was fairly simple, shuttle number one would go in first and blast the ground to air defenses. Right behind it would follow the two drop ships, which would immediately drop forty eight troops. The number two shuttle would fly backup, and both shuttles carried a squad to be deployed on the edges of the fray.

  After the drop we had three hours to march across the camp wreaking maximum havoc, killing enemy troops, and grabbing anything that might help our intel people. Then the drop ships would land, and we'd leave. The objective pure and simple was to incite the enemy command as much as possible, spread a little fear among the troops, and hopefully pick up something that could help us locate their other bases.

  I especially liked the part about the killing.

  It was during planning for the drop phase that I got my first real surprise since coming onboard the Falcon. Dave was there.

  “Dave?” I blinked walking over to him as the group got settled. “How the hell did you get here?”

  “Same way as you, what do you think?” He smiled heading over to a chair with another wolf who I guess was his pilot. “I tried to come down earlier and see you, but I was on the opposite shift and you were spending a lot of time holed up in your cabin there, so I thought it would be best to let you mourn a bit.”

  I nodded, it wasn’t hard to have not seen him, most of the ship’s crew didn’t come down into grunt country, they even had their own small mess.

  “But why?” I asked surprised.

  “Why?” he smiled, “Someone had to keep an eye on you and after what happened it wasn’t hard to figure out which way you’d jump. Plus let’s face it, the money is good, the Astra is too far away and,” his face clouded for a moment, “I still haven’t paid them back for Wendy.”

  “Oh,” I nodded. “I see.” I smiled, “It is good to see a familiar face though.”

  “Dave, Raj,” Aruba nodded walking into the room with Captain Johnson who walked over to the podium. I called the room to attention, then we relaxed as he put us at ease and started to call the plans for tomorrow’s drop up on the board.

  “You know her?” I asked Dave quietly as I settled into the seat next to him.

  “Of course,” he grinned, “Who do you think convinced her that you were worth saving?”

  I gave him a light elbow jab, “I don’t think saving me is what she has in mind.” I growled at him softly.

  “That’s how you know I’m your friend,” he snickered.

  The drop ships were somewhat crowded when we finally launched, twenty four was pushing the limit on what they were intended to carry, but Captain Johnson, (Falcon Bl
ock's commander) wanted us as unfragmented as possible when we started out. We were strung out in deploy lines of six and were being dropped at five hundred feet and point nine mach. We would be on the ground in twenty seconds.

  I was curled up in a ball on the deck, my back to the hatch with the drogue chute in my hand. As soon as the light by my feet lit, I tossed it and was sucked out into the slipstream. I spread eagle as soon as I was clear, to try and slow down as much as possible. I felt the jerks as each of the rest of my squad were pulled out, then my main chute opened and I was slammed hard against my harness. I could barely see the others of my squad through the night's darkness.

  I unstrapped my pack then letting it fall to the end of its ten foot tether, looked at the horizon and waited for the shock of the ground. I rolled when I hit, cut my chute loose and dragged my pack over. I then got out my rifle, slung my backpack, checked my grenades, locked, loaded, and gathered Hess and Marko up.

  By now everybody was pretty much together and it had taken us maybe forty seconds total. The explosions from the shuttle’s missiles, not to mention the sonic booms from the two drop ships, had woken up everybody in the place. We had landed in the center of the parade ground, and took off for the nearest building, firing as we came.

  I had started out following John's lead, but as we came among the buildings of the installation, we split into half squads and went looking for trouble. Some guy in his underwear came running out of a building right in front of me, so I cut him in half with a burst and ran inside, motioning Hess and Marko to follow.

  The place was packed with people all trying to get out the door I was coming in. We put our guns on full auto and just burned out our clips fanning the crowd. When I ran out I locked and loaded another and we moved through the building, which turned out to be a barracks, putting a bullet in the head of anybody still moving.

  We caught up with a group trying to get out the back door and cut them down too. All I could think about was paybacks and was loving every minute of it. I ran across to the next building which was also spilling out people and we repeated the process.