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to see what had happened here: the minister didn't have carte blanche in this thing;
since HMS Invincible was involved, he'd had to work through the Fleet Air Arm and the
Admiralty both. So, what would he have been able to tell them: that E-Branch had
priority here, and they were going up against vampires? Not likely! Which meant that it
all boiled down to a military (or more properly naval) operation.
To these six men, however, it wouldn't seem like a military mission at all; they
were simply doing their bit to help out in an emergency situation, giving aid to the
civilian authorities. And, on second thought, maybe Trask should be blaming the
Minister Responsible after all. For he had governmental power, the power to swear both
the Admiralty and the Fleet Air Arm to secrecy... if he'd had the balls to use it. Or maybe
it was the case that too many people were already in the know. And then again maybe
something had changed changed drastically since Trask and his people had been
sent out here.
But whatever or whichever, it was a fucking mess! These six men thought they
knew what they were doing, thought it was going to be easy. They'd been tasked to
knock down some kind of unarmed, rabid civilian animal and take him to a vet to have
him checked out... just like that.
But it wasn't 'just like that' at all...
'You and these men ' Trask suddenly blurted it out ' you're all in grave danger!
You aren't in possession of all the facts. Your superiors don't know all the facts. Only set
foot on that ship without knowing what you're doing, and '
' Oh, we know what we're doing, sir,' the Warrant Officer cut him short. 'Our
orders were very simple.'
Jesus! thought Trask. Simple? So were the minds that issued them! And out
loud: 'Listen to me. I'm telling you that some of you might not be coming back from that
vessel!'
The WO narrowed his eyes. 'And I'm telling you that that's what we call spreading
alarm and despondency among the troops. If you were one of mine, you'd be on a
charge. And in any case I'm obliged to report what you just said.'
'But '
'Just ten minutes to target.' The WO turned away, and then turned back again.
'And if you're not in a bloody suit when we get there, I'll be confining you to this chopper
sir!'
Trask barely managed to keep from exploding. 'We have our own "bloody suits",'
he said, 'which aren't nearly as complicated as yours.' And to his own people: 'Spray
yourselves down, apply nose-plugs, and weapon-up. Liz I want you on guard from
touchdown. We all stay together as far as possible, and always within sight and easy
reach of Jake.'
All twelve passengers marines and E-Branch people alike were standing,
belted, hooked up to safety rings in the ceiling of the aircraft; a purely precautionary and
standard safety measure, for except for a little vibration the ride so far had been as
smooth as silk. It would be relatively simple for Trask and his people to unhook
themselves and suit-up in NBC gear.
Instead, Ian Goodly and David Chung took out small aerosol canisters and
commenced spraying down their fellows. As the gas spread out the marines wrinkled
their noses, backed off, began sliding away on their safety rings and pulling their gas
masks into position over their mouths and noses.
'Shits' one of them said, disgustedly.
No,' Liz told him. 'It's just garlic. Yo u don't need your gas masks... not yet,
anyway.'
And as Goodly and Chung finished their spraying: 'We never use anything else,'
said Trask. 'That's us all "suited-up".'
'That's a shame,' said a marine junior ranker. 'See, I was sort of looking forward
to helping the little lady on with her suit. Helping her get dressed, I mean.'
'Or undressed!' Another marine sniggered.
'Watch your dirty mouths!' their WO told them. But:
'It's okay,' Liz smiled at him, however tightly, and turned to the one who would
have liked to help her dress, or undress. 'I feel perfectly safe with the soldier boys here
especially this one. You see, he has to come on all sexy because he isn't. Oh, he has
the gear all right, swinging away down there, but in fact that's all it does. He's so worried
that his wife is probably being banged by the big policeman who lives next door back
home in Portsmouth that he just can't get it up. But still he likes to pretend he can.' And
smiling sweetly at the marine in question who stood swaying there with his bottom jaw
hanging loose and his eyes bugging she added, 'So what does that do for your
privates, private?'
Now the man leaned towards her. 'Private?' he said. 'What? Private soldier? So
what do you know? In the marines it's just "marine", sweetheart!' But with his colleagues
staring at him, he quickly realised that while he had corrected her error he'd said nothing
to address the insult! So... could she in fact be right? 'Why, you bitch!' he spat then,
going white and yanking on his tether to get closer to her. But Jake Cutter, hooked up
opposite him, quickly got in the way.
'Later,' Jake husked, showing his teeth. 'We'll talk about this later, you and me,
when we're back on Invincible.'
'My pleasure!' the other spat.
'I very much doubt that,' said Jake. 'But it will certainly be mine.'
'Knock it off, everybody!' the WO snapped. 'Five minutes to target.'
And in Jake's head: Back on Invincible? Korath once Mindsthrall's deadspeak
voice echoed his astonishment, his disgust. This one insulted your woman, accepted
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