{"product_id":"starfist-school-of-fire-isbn-9780345406231","title":"Starfist: School of Fire","description":"\u003cb\u003eCombat, betrayal, and murder at the edge of human space . . . \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDeployed to assist the oligarchs of Wanderjahr in putting down a rebellion that threatens the planet's political and economic stability, the Marines must fight two wars at the same time . . . one against the resourceful, well-led guerrillas and another with the entrenched police bureaucracy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut who is the real enemy and who can be trusted? On Wanderjahr, nothing is as it seems—not even the animal life—and everyone has his own agenda. Inexorably, the Marines of the 34th FIST are drawn deeper and deeper into the politics of a world where murder, terror, and betrayal are the accepted methods of government . . . and everyone is ripe for an old-fashioned butt-kickin'.David Sherman is a former United States Marine and the author of eight previously published novels about Marines in Vietnam, where he served as an infantryman and as a member of a Combined Action Platoon. He is an alumnus of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and worked as a sculptor for many years before turning to writing.  Along the way he has held a variety of jobs, mostly supervisory and managerial. Today he is a full-time writer. He lives in Philadelphia.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDan Cragg enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1958 and retired with the rank of sergeant major twenty-two years later. During his Army service, Mr. Cragg served more than eleven years in overseas stations, five and a half of them in Vietnam. He is the author of Inside the VC and NVA (with Michael Lee Lanning), Top Sergeant (with William G. Bainbridge), and a Vietnam War novel, The Soldier's Prize. In real life Mr. Cragg is an analyst for the Defense Department. He and his wife, Sunny, live in Virginia, where honest citizens are allowed to pack heat. Visitors after dark are strongly urged to call ahead.Thorsfinni's World is a water world studded with islands small and large. High in its northern hemisphere floats Niflheim, an island approximately the size and shape of the Scandinavian peninsula on Old Earth. Niflheim is the center of Thorsfinni's World's Viking-based civilization and home to better than three-quarters of its population. In northern Niflheim the summer temperature rarely broaches 25 degrees on the Celsius scale, its winter temperatures often reaching that degree on the minus side of the scale. Niflheim is a wet place, rainy when the temperature is warm enough for liquid precipitation, snowy the rest of the year. And all of Thorsfinni's World smells of fish.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eNiflheim. Outpost of Human Space. Home of the 34th Fleet Initial Strike Team, Confederation Marine Corps. When the Marines of 34th FIST weren't off on a campaign on some other world, they spent most of their time in the field, either on Niflheim or one of the other islands, training for operations they might not ever be called upon to execute. Even if they trained for something they would never have to do, their commanders felt the most important thing was that they trained.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"So that's what we're going to be doing for the next two or three days,\" Ensign vanden Hoyt said at the conclusion of his briefing to the men of the third platoon, Company L, 34th FIST. A wry smile crossed his \u003cbr\u003elips and he added, \"Or what you'll be doing, I should say. Any questions? Problems?\" He peered carefully through the steady rain in the direction of the men--his men, his first command. All he could make out were their indistinct faces through what looked like undulating sheets of water. Their heads seemed to hover in the air. Ten years in the Corps and he was still sometimes startled by the illusions created by chameleon field uniforms.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThere were no questions and only one problem, but it wasn't voiced. Lance Corporal \"Hammer\" Schultz caught the eye of the platoon sergeant, Charlie Bass, and shook his head slightly. Bass replied with an almost imperceptible head bob. The problem was dealt with.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"All right, then,\" vanden Hoyt said when nobody spoke up, \"Staff Sergeant Bass will make the assignments. Then you can get back under shelter until it's time for you to go back into the rain.\" He stepped aside to let Bass take front and center.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"First squad,\" Bass said without preamble, wanting to get out of the rain as badly as anyone else in the platoon, maybe more so. Twenty-odd years as a Marine had taught him when being uncomfortable was good, and when it wasn't. \"Chan, I'm sticking you with MacIlargie and Godenov, so you also get Schultz. Go someplace and dry off,\" he said, glancing at the low, dark sky, which showed no sign of breaking, and shook his head. \"Or at least get out from underwater until you get your assignment. Van Impe, you have Lonsdorf. You also get Neru and Clarke from guns...\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eChan and his three men didn't hear the rest of the assignments. As soon as their names were called, Chan gathered his men and they slogged through churning mud for shelter.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"You should be in charge here,\" Chan said to Lance Corporal Schultz. \"You're senior to me, and you've got a lot more experience.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eSchultz grunted. He didn't want to be in charge. He was exactly what he wanted to be, a lance corporal, a man not in command in any way. His function in life, as he saw it, was to be a fighter, not a leader. The Confederation Marine Corps was filled with men well-qualified to be officers and noncommissioned officers, more than there were slots to fill. Schultz was an excellent fighter; so far as the Corps was concerned, he could remain a lance corporal until he retired, if that's what he wanted.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eShelter was a low tent made from three polymer sheets stretched over a framework of strong synthetic rods. The four Marines had to crouch to get \u003cbr\u003einside, and almost had to huddle together for all of them to fit. Chan turned on the radiant heating unit that sat in the center of the tent while Schultz secured the entrance. Wind buffeted the tent and the rain drummed on it, making conversation difficult--but at least they had a chance to dry out. The four sat cross-legged around the heater and in minutes their fronts were dried. Then they turned around. Their backs weren't quite dry when the flap opened and Charlie Bass crowded in, extending his open arms toward the heater as he moaned with pleasure.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \"There used to be a disease called rheumatoid arthritis,\" he said. \"Cold and wet made your joints swell up and hurt. If bioengineering hadn't \u003cbr\u003eeradicated it, I'd probably have it and be aching in every joint in my body,\" he twisted his back to ease rain- and wind-stiffened muscles, \u003cbr\u003e\"instead of just feeling like I've been turned into a piece of soggy wood.\" The others chuckled at his joke.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"All right,\" Bass said, abruptly all business. \"Mike Company's making a sweep. Third platoon's going to stop them. Here's your part of it ...\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThis phase of the two-week exercise was a three-way force-on-force for the three companies of the FIST's infantry battalion, with the other units of \u003cbr\u003ethe FIST in support of all three companies. Kilo and Mike Companies were acting as complete units in opposition to each other. Company L was \u003cbr\u003eplaying an irregular force, broken down into four-man teams that would act in opposition to Kilo and Mike. Commander Van Winkle, the battalion's \u003cbr\u003ecommanding officer, wanted to test the junior men, so the officers and NCOs of Company L were acting as umpires, and each four-man team was \u003cbr\u003eheaded by a lance corporal.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eA Dragon, the Marines' ubiquitous amphibious armored vehicle, dropped off Chan and his team twenty-five kilometers northeast of the company's \u003cbr\u003ebivouac area. In addition to their weapons and simulators, they carried light packs with little more than two days of rations. Due to vagaries of local weather conditions, the sun was shining brightly where the Dragon dropped them off and the rocky ground underfoot was dry; it hadn't even rained overnight there. The team was in a clearing in the midst of sparse vegetation that grew to twice the height of a man. The main plants in the area resembled Earth scrub-pine trees.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eChan checked the time. \"We don't know how long it'll be before somebody gets here,\" he said, \"or if it's going to be a platoon or a whole company or anything else. We need to find a position where we can watch all approaches from under cover.\" He scanned the area as he spoke, orienting himself, looking for recognizable landmarks, building a mental map of the unfamiliar scene.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eNothing that resembled grass grew on the rocks under the pine tree look-alikes, just a spotty coating of pale green, lichenlike stuff. Spindly plants whose stems didn't look strong enough to hold themselves upright grew from cracks in the forest floor. Flitterers that could have been butterflylike birds, or birdlike butterflies, flew from tree to tree. Smaller buzzers that could easily have been mistaken for Earth insects by anyone but an entomologist zigged and zagged their way among the lower flora of the forest, stopping here and there to absorb whatever passed for nectar on Thorsfinni's World.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eChan looked to Schultz for help.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Schultz merely shrugged and said, \"You're in charge,\" which was no help at all.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThis wasn't realistic, Chan thought. Irregulars should know the area \u003cbr\u003ethey were in, and he'd never been there before. Maps didn't tell you what \u003cbr\u003ewas really there. After a moment, he said, \"That tor over there,\" pointing \u003cbr\u003etoward a low hill barely visible through the trees to the northwest. \"That \u003cbr\u003eseems to be the highest ground around. That's probably our best starting \u003cbr\u003eplace. If nothing else, we can take a look around from there.\" He looked \u003cbr\u003eat his men as he talked. Schultz was walking slowly--almost \u003cbr\u003einvisibly--about, examining the terrain with the eye of an experienced \u003cbr\u003einfantryman. Godenov was listening intently. MacIlargie had a quizzical \u003cbr\u003eexpression on his face and didn't seem to be paying any attention. He had \u003cbr\u003ethe kind of face that should have been framed by long, tangled hair, and a \u003cbr\u003emustache with ends that drooped to below his chin wouldn't have seemed out \u003cbr\u003eof place--but Marine regulations required short hair and forbade mustaches \u003cbr\u003ethat long.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"Are you listening to me, MacIlargie?\" Chan snapped.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"What's that smell?\" MacIlargie asked.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eTaken aback by the unexpected question, Chan sniffed. He hadn't \u003cbr\u003enoticed any aroma that might indicate danger. \"What smell?\" he asked. \"I \u003cbr\u003edon't smell anything.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eGodenov, a big young man, deceptively soft-looking, took a deep \u003cbr\u003ebreath. He didn't smell anything either.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eSchultz seemed to pay no attention to the exchange--he knew what \u003cbr\u003eMacIlargie noticed and that it was irrelevant.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"That's what I mean,\" MacIlargie said. \"Something's missing.\" His face \u003cbr\u003elit up with a broad smile as he realized what it was. \"Okay, now we see \u003cbr\u003ehow sharp you are. What's missing? If you can't tell that, you're not \u003cbr\u003egoing to be very good on patrols when we go on operations for real.\" He \u003cbr\u003egrinned at the others.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eGodenov got it first. \"The air doesn't smell like fish!\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"Izzy, if I was in charge, I'd make you my second in command,\" \u003cbr\u003eMacIlargie exclaimed. \"You get out here in the toolies, you gotta be \u003cbr\u003esharp, and you're the only one who figured that out.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eChan simply looked at MacIlargie's grinning face, hovering in the \u003cbr\u003emiddle of the clearing like the last glimpse of a Cheshire cat. \u003cbr\u003eMacIlargie, like Godenov, was on his first assignment after Boot Camp. \u003cbr\u003eBoth had recently joined the platoon as replacements for men lost on the \u003cbr\u003eFIST's last operation, peacekeeping on Elneal. Chan himself had been on \u003cbr\u003efour combat operations, including one with the 34th FIST. Schultz was more \u003cbr\u003eexperienced than he was.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eMacIlargie staggered, then almost fell, and yelped. Schultz, in his \u003cbr\u003edeceptively casual, almost invisible way, had come near and hit him with \u003cbr\u003ean elbow--hard. Schultz's disembodied voice mumbled something that might \u003cbr\u003ehave been an apology but probably wasn't.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eMacIlargie recovered his balance and spun toward where he thought \u003cbr\u003eSchultz was. For a second it seemed he'd attack Schultz if he could find \u003cbr\u003ehim. But only for a second. He remembered what Schultz looked like when he \u003cbr\u003ewas visible--Schultz moved languidly and seldom had much to say, but he \u003cbr\u003eexuded a dangerous self-confidence that gave strong men pause.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eChan spoke up: \"We're going to that hill. MacIlargie, take point. \u003cbr\u003eGodenov, bring up the rear. Now. Move it out.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eSchultz gave Chan a look that said, I should have the point. Chan said \u003cbr\u003eagain, \"MacIlargie, move out.\" Then he added to Schultz, \"This is \u003cbr\u003etraining. He needs the experience.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eSchultz nodded, satisfied that Chan understood that if it had been a \u003cbr\u003ereal operation, he was the one who would take the most dangerous and \u003cbr\u003eimportant spot in the patrol column.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe tor was closer than it had looked. It was a broad, low platform of \u003cbr\u003elimestone, forced upward in terraces by an up-welling of magma deep below \u003cbr\u003ethe surface. Scree dotted the ground at the foot of the tor's steep side.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eMacIlargie stopped at the foot of the hill and looked back at Chan, \u003cbr\u003euncertain what to do next.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eSchultz brushed past both of them and started climbing the eight-meter \u003cbr\u003ecliff to the first terrace.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eChan looked back and saw Godenov's face hovering as he stood watching.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"Watch our rear, Godenov,\" Chan said. \"That's the rear point's job: \u003cbr\u003ewatch the rear.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eGodenov started. \"Oh.\" He turned around and dropped to one knee to \u003cbr\u003epeer into the thin trees behind them.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eEven though he could barely make out where Godenov was, Chan saw that \u003cbr\u003ehe wasn't in position to effectively watch the rear. He shook his head and \u003cbr\u003ewondered what they were teaching recruits in Boot Camp these days. Surely \u003cbr\u003ehe'd been better than that at field craft when he went on his first \u003cbr\u003eassignment. He briefly considered taking the time to show the young man \u003cbr\u003ehow to pick a better position, but instead said to MacIlargie, \"Follow the \u003cbr\u003eman.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eSchultz's climbing noises indicated he was already over the top of the \u003cbr\u003efirst terrace. Chan flipped down his infras so he could watch his men. \u003cbr\u003eWhen MacIlargie was halfway up the first terrace, Chan sent Godenov after \u003cbr\u003ehim. He then gave the trees near the base of the hill a quick once-over. \u003cbr\u003eWhen his infras didn't show anything man-size in them, he followed.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThe higher terraces and slopes were older than those below. As the \u003cbr\u003eMarines climbed, it became easier because the increased erosion made the \u003cbr\u003eslopes gentler. Here and there crevasses and cave mouths dimpled the tor.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eOnce, when they were close to each other, Schultz said to Chan, \"I \u003cbr\u003eknow this place. If we have to, we can hide.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eIt didn't take long to approach the top. \"Off the hori-zon, people,\" \u003cbr\u003eChan said when he saw two man-size pillars of rock above. He was crouched \u003cbr\u003ebelow the top, as he knew Schultz was.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eOne of the rock pillars rippled, and MacIlargie's face appeared above \u003cbr\u003eit. \"What do you mean?\" he asked. \"We're wearing chameleons, nobody can \u003cbr\u003esee us.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"Chameleons pick up the nearest colors,\" Chan said, \"not what's behind \u003cbr\u003eyou. You look like a man-made pile of stone up there.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eRocks seemed to shift as MacIlargie shrugged. \"A man-size pile of rock \u003cbr\u003edoesn't have to be a man, it's just a pile of rocks.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eChan flipped down his infras. \"These tell me you're a man, not a pile \u003cbr\u003eof rock,\" he said. \"Off the top of the hill.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eMacIlargie snorted. \"You've got to be less than a kilometer away for \u003cbr\u003einfras to show enough detail.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"Hoppers have infras that can pick out a man as far as the horizon. \u003cbr\u003eGet down.\" Godenov had already dropped down to the military crest of the \u003cbr\u003ehill.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eMacIlargie's face disappeared and his rock pile rippled as he turned \u003cbr\u003ein a circle. \"I don't see any hoppers out there,\" he said as his face \u003cbr\u003ereappeared.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"You don't know anything about evasive flying, do you?\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eMacIlargie yelped and his face dropped through the space that no \u003cbr\u003elonger looked like a man-size pile of rocks. Then his shocked, frightened \u003cbr\u003eface skittered down from the top of the hill and came to rest next to Chan.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eSchultz's voice came from MacIlargie's other side. \"That's how you get \u003cbr\u003esomeone too dumb to live to do what you tell him to. Either that or blast \u003cbr\u003ehim.\" He had slithered unseen to the top and knocked MacIlargie's feet \u003cbr\u003efrom underneath him, then dragged him down.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"Hey, don't do that!\" MacIlargie shouted, and swung a fist at Schultz, \u003cbr\u003ebut the other man had already moved away.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"Calm down, MacIlargie,\" Chan said, putting a restraining hand on the \u003cbr\u003enew man. \"When Marines don't follow orders, somebody can get hurt. On a \u003cbr\u003ereal operation, not following orders can get Marines killed.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"No need to knock me down like that,\" MacIlargie muttered. \"You want \u003cbr\u003eme to do something, all you got to do is say so.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"What do you think I was doing?\" he snapped. Chan shook his head, then \u003cbr\u003eswitched his attention back to the mission. \"Everybody, four corners. Use \u003cbr\u003eyour infras, use your magnifiers, use your bare eyes. And listen. Mike \u003cbr\u003eCompany, or part of Mike Company, is out there somewhere. We damn well \u003cbr\u003ebetter spot them before they spot us. Schultz, far side. MacIlargie, \u003cbr\u003eright, Godenov, left side. Do it now.\" Through his infras he watched his \u003cbr\u003emen moving away. He'd give them a minute or two to get into position, then \u003cbr\u003ego around and check them. Especially the new men, to make sure they were \u003cbr\u003ebehind rocks that would reduce their heat signatures.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eEveryone was well-positioned when Chan made his rounds--even \u003cbr\u003eMacIlargie, who didn't seem to understand how vulnerable even a man in \u003cbr\u003echameleons and a blaster shield could be. On his way back to his own \u003cbr\u003eposition, Chan scouted routes between positions to see how they could move \u003cbr\u003eabout while exposing themselves as little as possible. Then he settled \u003cbr\u003edown to watch, listen, and wait.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eOnce the Marines settled down, tiny things, gnatlike flitterers, gathered \u003cbr\u003earound their still bodies. Landed on them, got inside their clothing, \u003cbr\u003ecrawled about, itched and annoyed them, made them focus inward, close at \u003cbr\u003ehand. As the waiting, watching, and listening time lengthened, the Marines \u003cbr\u003efound their attention diverted from the horizon and surrounding landscape \u003cbr\u003eto their very near airspace and skin. The new men were the first to begin \u003cbr\u003ewaving their hands to dispel the flitterers, to pluck them off their skin, \u003cbr\u003epull them out of their clothing, to crush them between fingernails when \u003cbr\u003eall else failed. After more than an hour of watching nothing happen out \u003cbr\u003ethere, even Chan began paying attention to the bugs. Eventually, Schultz \u003cbr\u003etoo was delousing himself. It took a lot to get Schultz to shift his \u003cbr\u003eattention from the mission to tiny bloodsuckers; to him they were simply \u003cbr\u003epart of being in the field. And a lot less dangerous than people.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eAfter half a day of boredom and delousing, Chan noticed aircraft \u003cbr\u003ehumming somewhere in the distance. The humming quickly grew louder. He \u003cbr\u003elooked around but didn't see anything from his position.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"Heads up,\" he murmured into his helmet comm unit, \"aircraft coming. \u003cbr\u003eWho sees them?\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eA couple of seconds passed before someone whistled over the team's \u003cbr\u003ecomm net, then MacIlargie's voice said, \"I see ten hoppers. They're coming \u003cbr\u003estraight at us.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"Nobody move,\" Chan ordered. Keeping under cover as much as possible, \u003cbr\u003ehe rushed to MacIlargie's position. As the new man had said, ten hoppers \u003cbr\u003ewere coming at them. They were flying just over treetop level, less than \u003cbr\u003etwo kilometers away and closing fast. He shivered.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"Hold your positions,\" Chan said into his comm unit. \"Maybe they'll \u003cbr\u003epass over us and keep going.\" If that happened, he knew he and his men \u003cbr\u003ewould have a long walk trying to follow them. But if that many hoppers \u003cbr\u003elanded anywhere nearby, the reinforced company they must be carrying would \u003cbr\u003ebe far too many for his four men to deal with.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThe formation began orbiting a small clearing two hundred meters away, \u003cbr\u003eand the hoppers touched down two at a time to disgorge passengers.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eMacIlargie said, \"We need to even the odds a bit.\" He checked the \u003cbr\u003esimulator on his blaster, raised it to his shoulder, took aim at the \u003cbr\u003enearest hopper, and fired at it before Chan could stop him.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"Oh, no,\" Chan groaned. \"You just got us killed.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThe laser beam the simulator transmitted hit the hopper, and sensors \u003cbr\u003eon the aircraft signaled the crew that their bird was hit, where, and how \u003cbr\u003ebadly. The pilot radioed his squadron commander that he'd been hit and the \u003cbr\u003edirection the fire had come from, then made a quick landing to off-load \u003cbr\u003ethe squad and half of the infantrymen his hopper carried. He immediately \u003cbr\u003elifted off again to treetop level and headed back toward base at half \u003cbr\u003espeed, which was as fast as the simulated damage the hopper sustained \u003cbr\u003eallowed it to go.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eAnother hopper, carrying extra weaponry instead of passengers, broke \u003cbr\u003efrom the formation and spun toward the tor. It opened fire with its \u003cbr\u003esimulators, peppering the side of the tor with random fire until its \u003cbr\u003einfras could pick out and zero in on the \"enemy.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eMacIlargie gulped and his eyes bulged at the sight of the oncoming \u003cbr\u003ehopper and the fire it was spraying in their direction.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"I could have told you that was going to happen,\" Chan said dryly. \u003cbr\u003e\"Dumb guy.\" Then he thought frantically about what to do next while \u003cbr\u003eMacIlargie fired a shot at the hopper as it swooped past them. MacIlargie \u003cbr\u003emissed.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"You just gave them our position,\" Chan told him. \"They'll fry us on \u003cbr\u003etheir next pass.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"No they won't,\" Schultz's voice said. \"Maneuver toward me. I know a \u003cbr\u003eway out of here.\" MacIlargie ran upright, fast enough that Chan's reaching \u003cbr\u003ehand couldn't grab him and pull him into cover.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eChan made his way using as much cover as he could. The escort hopper \u003cbr\u003ecame back around the side of the tor and swept the area he and MacIlargie \u003cbr\u003ehad just vacated. Continuing the circuit, its fire reached the narrow \u003cbr\u003eopening in the hillside the four Marines ducked into just as Chan, again \u003cbr\u003ebringing up the rear, was diving through it. A couple of hundred meters \u003cbr\u003eaway the last of the hoppers was off-loading its passengers, and the \u003cbr\u003ereinforced company was deploying for an assault on the tor to mop up any \u003cbr\u003eof the \"enemy\" who weren't killed by the escort hopper.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eMacIlargie and Godenov huddled near the entrance, exclaiming to each other \u003cbr\u003eabout their narrow escape from the hopper.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"Now you know why nobody makes the mistake of firing at Marine hoppers \u003cbr\u003emore than once,\" Chan snarled.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eMacIlargie looked at him innocently and shrugged. \"It seemed like a \u003cbr\u003egood idea at the time.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eChan shook his head patiently. \"Now what do we do? Hope they give us a \u003cbr\u003echance to surrender, or do we go out in a blaze of glory?\" he asked \u003cbr\u003esarcastically. He quickly looked around. The cave appeared to extend only \u003cbr\u003ethree or four meters into the side of the tor.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"Neither,\" Schultz said. \"Follow me.\" He scuttled to the back of the \u003cbr\u003ecave, past MacIlargie and Godenov, and seemed to melt into the rock wall \u003cbr\u003eon the left.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"Where'd he go?\" Godenov exclaimed.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"You coming with me or not?\" Schultz's muffled voice echoed from the \u003cbr\u003ewall.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eChan brushed past the two men to examine the wall where Schultz had \u003cbr\u003edisappeared. \"Well, I'll be. Come on, you two.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eSituated where it couldn't be seen until you were right on top of it, \u003cbr\u003ea crack just wide enough for a man to squeeze through opened into the side \u003cbr\u003eof the cave. Chan pulled and pushed his way through, and for a brief \u003cbr\u003emoment thought he was going to get stuck. MacIlargie, smaller, got through \u003cbr\u003emore easily. Godenov, like Chan, almost got stuck.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"Hey,\" MacIlargie exclaimed when he was in the crack, \"it's dark in \u003cbr\u003ehere. How are we going to see where we're going?\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eAfter a couple of meters the narrow slit opened into a room larger \u003cbr\u003ethan the cave mouth. Schultz was patiently waiting for them. They could \u003cbr\u003esee his face easily in the greenish illumination from a sphere in his hand \u003cbr\u003ethe size of a tennis ball, a nonissue, civilian glowball. It wasn't a \u003cbr\u003ebright light, but in the darkness of the cave it was enough to see by.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"Never go into the field without your own personal glowball,\" he said \u003cbr\u003eto the new men. \"If you live long enough, you might learn these things.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"Why wouldn't we live long enough?\" MacIlargie asked.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"Because you're stupid. If you don't make a mistake in training and \u003cbr\u003eget yourself killed, someone else might kill you to keep you from getting \u003cbr\u003ehim killed.\" He turned to a tunnel leading away from the entrance to the \u003cbr\u003eroom. \"I hope none of you are claustrophobic,\" he said over his shoulder. \u003cbr\u003e\"It gets tight in a few places back here.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"Wait a minute,\" Chan said sharply. \"Where are we going?\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"This way.\" Schultz pointed at the tunnel.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"Where does 'this way' go?\" Chan asked. He didn't want to admit it, \u003cbr\u003ebut in fact he was claustrophobic.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"To the other side of the tor. This place is honeycombed. We can come \u003cbr\u003eout anywhere we want.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"Yeah, and if it's honeycombed, we can get lost anywhere too. And how \u003cbr\u003edo you know it's honeycombed?\" Schultz was a hard, cold man. The fact that \u003cbr\u003eChan wanted to argue with him was a measure of how afraid he was of being \u003cbr\u003ein a cave.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"I've been here before. There are markers we can follow.\" He walked \u003cbr\u003etoward a shadow on the other side of the room and toed a small cairn. \u003cbr\u003e\"Like this.\" He ducked and disappeared into the shadow--the mouth of a \u003cbr\u003epassageway.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"You better be right,\" Chan muttered, \"because if I get lost or stuck \u003cbr\u003ein here and die, I'm coming back to haunt you.\" Then, louder, he said to \u003cbr\u003eMacIlargie and Godenov, \"Follow him.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThe tunnel was low enough that they had to crouch to get through, but \u003cbr\u003ethey didn't have to crawl--the crawling and slithering came later. This \u003cbr\u003efirst tunnel curved gently to the left, then took a sharp right and \u003cbr\u003eemptied into another cavern, which had two exits.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eSchultz didn't hesitate before picking one and heading for it.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eNervous sweat was beginning to bead on Chan's forehead. \"Are you sure \u003cbr\u003eyou know where you're going?\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"I'm sure.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"I don't see any of those markers you said were there.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"You're not looking,\" Schultz said as he slid into the exit he'd \u003cbr\u003echosen.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"I see it,\" MacIlargie said as he hurried after Schultz. His boot \u003cbr\u003etapped the cairn as he passed it and knocked it over.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eGodenov gave Chan a glance that was half excited and half scared, then \u003cbr\u003efollowed.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"Muhammad's beard,\" Chan muttered. He shrugged out of his pack, dug in \u003cbr\u003eit for his glowball, then paused momentarily to repile the cairn. He hoped \u003cbr\u003eit didn't matter what order the rocks went in, because he couldn't \u003cbr\u003eremember how they'd been piled before MacIlargie knocked them over. \"Wait \u003cbr\u003efor me,\" he said as he sidestepped into the crack in the wall. It was \u003cbr\u003eanother tight squeeze, and he resolved that he wasn't bringing up the rear \u003cbr\u003eagain--if he got stuck, he wanted someone behind him as well as in front \u003cbr\u003eso he could be pushed or pulled in either direction to get free.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eTime seemed to suspend its normal movement, and it felt like they were \u003cbr\u003espending the beginning of an eternity making their way through the rock \u003cbr\u003epassages. But it took less than one hour standard to make their way to the \u003cbr\u003eother side of the tor. They squeezed sideways through vertical and \u003cbr\u003enear-vertical cracks, slithered on their bellies through horizontal ones. \u003cbr\u003eHere they had to clamber up, there they gingerly climbed down. Most of the \u003cbr\u003etime, though, they duckwalked or crawled on all fours; few of the passages \u003cbr\u003ewere high and wide enough for them to walk erect. Now and then they passed \u003cbr\u003ethrough chambers so small only three of them could squeeze in, but one of \u003cbr\u003ethem was big enough to hold a platoon. Chan never got permanently stuck, \u003cbr\u003ebut there was one briefly harrowing spot where he couldn't move forward or \u003cbr\u003eaft until he let all the air out of his lungs and was push-pulled through \u003cbr\u003ewith his sweat serving as lubricant. Schultz noticed how wet he was and \u003cbr\u003ehow he stank of fear, but only grunted.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen they reached yet another small room, Schultz took off his helmet, \u003cbr\u003ethen turned off the glowball and returned it to his pack. \"Wait a few \u003cbr\u003eminutes,\" he whispered to the others. \"The exit's right on the other side. \u003cbr\u003eWe'll let our eyes adjust until we can see some light, then follow it.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"We're not out yet,\" Chan said. \"And there's still a whole company out \u003cbr\u003ethere looking for us.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eSchultz's helmetless head was now visible as a shadow on a shadow, and \u003cbr\u003eChan saw him shake it. \"They're not still looking for us here. Only a \u003cbr\u003ecouple other people know about these caves. Either they're searching every \u003cbr\u003eopening on the other side of the tor or they think we managed to evade all \u003cbr\u003etheir sensors and get away.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"Uh-huh.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eAt last, diffused light was visible on the far side of the room.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"Let's go,\" Schultz said. They followed him through the crack. The \u003cbr\u003ecrack turned, dropped, and became a narrow tunnel that emptied directly \u003cbr\u003eonto the hillside next to a mid-size boulder. Schultz dragged himself out, \u003cbr\u003ethen helped the others gain the open air.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"We made it,\" Chan said, immensely relieved. He shook himself, \u003cbr\u003eenjoying the feeling of nothing pressing in on him. \"Now we need to find \u003cbr\u003eout where Mike Company went to so we can do a number on them.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \"We're right here,\" came a voice from above and behind them. \"Drop \u003cbr\u003eyour weapons or you're dead.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThey looked back and up into the faces and blasters of a Marine squad.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"You didn't really think you were the only ones who knew about the \u003cbr\u003ecaves in there, did you?\" the Mike Company squad leader asked.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eSuddenly, the air smelled of fish again.","brand":"Del Rey","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303599395045,"sku":"NP9780345406231","price":7.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780345406231.jpg?v=1767737257","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/starfist-school-of-fire-isbn-9780345406231","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}