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get the hell out. At thevery least, pull the injectors and try to EVA the
pilot and techs."
"Die or drop time?"Massa said, shaking his head. "Thanks for the mission."
"Short answer," Herzer replied, his face hard. "Ineed Josten. I want Nicole
and Manuel. I desire you, Ahmed, Theo and Collin. That is your priority. Is
that clear?"
"Clear," Mike said, his jaw working. "Anything else?"
"Meet me in Maintenance," Herzer said, nodding.
"Will do," Mike said. "Bye, Herzer."
"Bye, Mike," Herzer replied. "Cut it, please, Megan. Van's got three, we've
got Four, Van Krief's got Seven and Cruz has got Twelve. Not good, but not as
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bad as it could be." He stopped and shook his head unhappily. "Notas bad."
"What was that all about?" Courtney said, looking from Herzer's hard visage
to Megan's stricken expression.
"He just sacrificed most of Team Massa," Layne replied, rolling to his feet.
"Get it on, boss?"
"What do you mean he just sacrificed them?" Joie asked, trying to figure out
what was going on.
"Shuttle five is going to have shuttles full of New Destiny troops on every
side of it," Megan said, staring at her lover as if he were a stranger.
"They'll want to take us out if they can do it and not take too many
casualties. They'll know that Mike's team is cut off and they'll close in on
the shuttle, right?"
"Probably," Herzer said, blowing out a breath. "They might just ignore them,
but that's a low order probability as Geo would put it." His jaw worked for a
moment and he shrugged. "I needed Josten and Nicole."
"So you just sent them into the middle of a swarm of New Destiny orcs?" Joie
asked, angrily. "How isthat going to get them to you?"
"Mike and the Lords will hold the docking doors long enough for them to EVA,
if it comes to it," Layne said, opening up his locker and looking unhappily at
his space suit. "So, do we get it on?"
"Twenty minutes," Herzer said, distantly. "It will take an hour for the
shuttle to pump out, when it lands. We start getting it on when it lands."
"So that'sit ?" Courtney said, her eyes wide. "You just throw away half the
team to get two or three members. Maybe?"
"Yes, that'sit , Courtney," Megan said, finally letting out a sigh. "Now
leave him alone."
"Leave himalone ?" Courtney shouted. "He just threw away people we've been
training with forweeks ! Those are myfriends !"
"They'rehis friends, too," Megan said, grabbing the red-head by the arm and
shaking her. "Soshut up! "
"You can't just throw them away!" Courtney yelled. "Who are you going to
throw away next? Me? Megan?"
"If it comes to that," Herzer replied, coldly, still looking into some
unknown distance. "If the mission dictates that you have to die, Courtney,
then you will have to die. That is what this is all about. Something thatMike
understood, as do Ahmed and Theo and Collin.
"They will try to keep the orcs off of the rest until they can EVA and
hopefully escape on the surface. I very much hope that none of this comes to
fruition. However, if all I get is Josten, I'll consider it a win. Josten and
Nicole will make it a very good choice. Manuel would be a great benefit but,
frankly, we're more short on good hands-on engineers, like Nicole, than we are
computer techs. And we have more need for them with pulling the injectors.
"I had three choices. I could choose to ignore the shuttle, let it go up
empty. That would leave the team on the ground for the majority of the
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projected mission time and it would leave the shuttle untouched. I could send
up the Blood Lord pure team, they might be able to pull the injector and maybe
not, it's not a straightforward procedure. That would still leave the techs I
needed on the surface but, assuming they could survive, and that's a major
assumption, the fighters might be useful. I don't intend to fight if I can
avoid it, but it might come to it. Or I could send the team. There are a few
possibilities. Their shuttle might dock early and they can then run for the
crew passages and evade into areas we have a tighter lock on. The New Destiny
forces might avoid them and just make for the control room, assuming that the
big battle will be for it. Or they could be trapped in battle in a very small
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