Ballistic (The Palladium Wars), стр. 55
The street remained quiet and empty. The only movement in her field of vision was the holographic advertising on a storefront in the distance.
“My tactical screen is out,” she said on the platoon channel. “Squad leaders, give me a status report.”
“We are securing the perimeter around the site,” Corporal Bandhari replied. “None of us were closer than half a block. The QRF transmitters are all offline, Colors.”
“Anyone got eyes on the building?”
“I’m on the northeast corner,” Corporal Shakya sent. “The whole thing collapsed when the ground floor went. Blue section is taking off right now for overhead cover.”
“Blue section, do you read?”
“Loud and clear, Colors,” Corporal Noor replied. “We have you on tactical. You’re a block and a half to the northeast.”
“Noor, you’re in charge for now from up there. Our ride is down and my tactical link is out. Captain Dahl and I are going to make our way to the site on foot. Keep overwatch and have purple and yellow sections redeploy for perimeter security.”
“Understood, Colors,” Noor said. “The alert force is boarding the combat ship at Sandvik Base. ETA fifteen minutes.”
Whatever is left of the alert force, Idina thought. The QRF usually had just a single platoon on emergency standby, only four squads of troopers, and one of those squads had been in the hotel when it blew up.
“The police and emergency responders from our side are on the way also,” Dahl said next to Idina. The Gretian officer holstered her weapon and raised the visor of her helmet. After a moment of consideration, Idina returned her own gun to its holster as well. If there was another trap waiting for them, the pistol would make no difference in the end. The QRF squad had been armed to the teeth and trained to expect trouble, and now they were buried in the rubble of a four-story building.
The site of the detonation wasn’t hard to spot even from almost two blocks away. A billowing cloud of smoke rose into the night sky where the hotel had stood just minutes ago. One of the JSP patrol gyrofoils rushed by above their heads and made a wide circle around the block, climbing as it went. The downwash from the engine’s rotors made the rising smoke swirl. The smell of the explosives residue triggered unwelcome olfactory flashbacks in Idina’s brain, memories of blood and fear and bone-deep exhaustion. This was the scent of a battlefield, not that of a civilian neighborhood.
“Good gods,” Dahl said when they rounded the corner of the next intersection.
“The gods had nothing to do with this,” Idina replied grimly.
The site of the hotel was half a block ahead and to their left. Whoever had set the ambush had either vastly overestimated the amount of explosive needed, or they had meant to demonstrate their willingness to commit destruction to excess. The capsule hotel was just a pile of concrete rubble and twisted steel girders. Every building in the intersection had taken severe damage from the shockwave and the flying debris. It looked like the aftermath of an artillery strike.
“What do you see, Noor?” Idina asked on the platoon channel.
“Nobody’s moving down there but our people,” Corporal Noor replied. “Thermals are all over the place. Half the block is gone, Colors. And most of what’s left is on fire.”
“Everyone stay clear of the damaged buildings,” Idina said. “Keep the perimeter secure for when the backup gets here.”
“What about the QRF unit?”
She looked at the burning ruin that had been the hotel. The fire that had engulfed the remains of the building radiated intense heat that was uncomfortable on her unshielded face even from half a block away.
“They are being welcomed by their ancestors right now, Corporal,” she said. “And I hope they get piss-drunk with them in the Hall of Heroes tonight.”
CHAPTER 15
ADEN
“Some smuggling crew we are,” Maya said.
On the navigation plot, the icon representing RNS Minotaur was almost at the edge of their awareness bubble, a hundred thousand kilometers astern of Zephyr. They were burning at two g, nice and easy, but Aden could tell that Maya would go full throttle if she had her way, just to leave the Rhodian Navy behind as fast as possible.
“I feel like I just got a stern lecture from my old teacher,” Tess said. “That’s a damn funny way to show gratitude to someone who drops a stolen nuke back into their lap. I wasn’t expecting a reward. But a ‘thank you’ would have been nice.”
“That was a nuclear warhead,” Decker said from above. “Navy people really get their overalls in a wad about those. To be honest, I’m surprised he let us go.”
“And you took it to them anyway?” Tess looked a little scandalized.
Henry cleared his throat.
“Nukes are poison,” he said. “We did the only thing we could have done that carried the chance for leniency. If that same ship had busted us on that run, we would be on our way to Rhodia right now. To begin our complimentary decade and a half of leisure time in a high-security detention arcology.”
“We could have dumped it,” Maya said.
“Out in space? Like a bunch of galley trash?” Tess shook her head.
“There’s a lot of empty space between the regular transfer lanes. That thing would be floating out there for ten thousand years before someone came across it. Maybe forever.”
“I am not dumping a half-megaton warhead for some scrapper to stumble across.” Decker’s tone made