VIPER One: Countervalue

Jarle grabbed Sarbin from Gibbs and strapped him in as the hold door shut and Jinn punched the engines. The alien’s eyes were unfocused.

  ‘Zesh Sarbin?’ He waved a gauntleted hand in front of Sarbin’s eyes.

  ‘Is he infected?’ asked Akiya.

  ‘He’s probably immune.’

  It was unlikely that the cobs would have packed the virus bombs with multiple strains matched to different alien physiologies. Sarbin was probably the only non-human on the world who would have been left untouched by the weapon, and this zhahassi wouldn’t have been a match for one cob, let alone a fleet of them.

  Burrow, Alina, and Victoria were slumped in passenger harnesses—Alina hooked up to an emergency medical suite to make sure her caved-in chest didn’t kill her before the virus did.

  ‘We’re coming up on the compound,’ said Jinn. ‘Thirty seconds.’

  Jarle pulled up the exterior feeds. He could see Sev and the captain, standing vigil over the unconscious Kgosi and their three other targets.

  ‘Get ready, everyone. Let’s get the incaps loaded and strapped in double-quick so we can get the fuck out of here.’

  Jinn spun the Manticore so the hold door faced out onto the roof and activated the door. Akiya stood at the edge of the hold, ready to hop out onto the roof as soon as there was clearance.

  ‘Shit!’ yelled Jinn. The entire craft lurched to avoid a volley of RRG fire from an APC on the ground below. The lurch forced Akiya to stagger forward for balance, and she had to leap from the Manticore, barely grabbing the edge of the building.

  ‘Fuck!’

  Vasco and Sev darted forward to haul her onto the roof. Jarle lost sight as the Manticore banked round clear of the building.

  ‘We got her,’ said Sev.

  ‘Someone must still be alive down there. Are we clear to engage?’

  ‘Do it,’ said Vasco wearily. ‘Put them out of their misery.’

  Jinn made a pass of the building as the APC fired again, but the Manticore’s assistive evasion subroutines meant that it barely came close. The Manticore’s assault laser lanced downwards, punching clean through the roof of the APC.

  ‘Reading clear, sir,’ said Jinn.

  ‘Okay people, let’s wrap this up,’ said Vasco.

  The Manticore hovered over the Governorate compound as VIPER loaded their charges into the hold. Vasco didn’t wait for the whole squad to be strapped in before giving the order. ‘Jinn, get us the fuck out of here.’

  Jinn hit the reheat, blasting them towards the stratosphere. The hold’s tac screens showed the view from the Manticore’s aft feeds.

  Everyone carefully avoided looking.