War Wolves: Boxset 1-3 Read online

  “I feel confident we’ll get the job done with Peace Envoy Two.” Riot studied the captain to see if he would pick up on her words and what his reaction would be.

  For the briefest of moments, surprised panic drifted over his eyes. Just as soon as it was there, a veil of practiced composure once more fell across his hard, blue gaze. But it had been there, of that, Riot was sure.

  “I think you made a mistake.” The captain leaned in and looked hard into Riot’s eyes. “You and your squad are Peace Envoy One.”

  “Captain, you’re my friend, but also my superior. If you want me to pretend you’re telling me the truth right now, I will.” Riot considered not saying what she thought, but that wouldn’t be her style. “However, we both know the truth.”

  Captain Harlan took a deep breath in through his nose and let it out through his mouth. He glanced over to make sure the door to the room was locked, then he lowered his voice.

  “You didn’t hear this from me, do you understand that?” Captain Harlan gave Riot a look that said he would deny any knowledge of this conversation if it got out. “This meeting never happened.”

  “I get it.” Riot waited for the captain to continue. “I wouldn’t push you into a conversation you didn’t want to have, except my men’s lives are on the chopping block, here.”

  “You are the second attempt at reaching allies in space. The first attempt ended when we exited light speed around the planet Hoydren. All communication was cut off.

  “I never lied to you. You were always my first choice to lead this mission, Riot.” Captain Harlan finally allowed his eyes to drift from hers. He scratched the back of his head, gaze on his desk as if he were reliving the events. “We had a squad of six go out weeks before I contacted you. They were well-trained Marines, along with two scientists, one of them trained in diplomacy. I tried to get you to head that mission, but my superiors had someone else in mind, and he took his men out. The last report we received is that they had exited light speed, and then nothing.”

  “Super.” Riot let out a heavy sigh of her own. “So you said we leave soon. Would that be as soon as tomorrow? The day after tomorrow?”

  “You’re not worried at all?”

  “Of course I am, but that doesn’t change what needs to be done.” Riot shrugged, thinking back on all the information she had learned about the Trilords, and the planet Hoydren, over the last three weeks. There had to be something there that would help her get further than Peace Envoy One. “We’ll make it happen. We’ll find out what happened to the Marines who were sent there before us. If they’re still alive, we’ll bring them back.”

  “I should have told you sooner.” Captain Harlan shook his head. “I hate all this political crap as much as you do, but my superiors thought you’d turn tail and run if you knew you were this mission’s second attempt. Deborah told you, didn’t she?”

  “If I have your permission Captain,” Riot said, ignoring the question before walking to the door. “I have a squad to prep for space.”

  16

  I’ve dreamed of this since I was a kid.” Vet shook his head, his constant frown still present, but easier around the edges. “What are we going to name her?”

  “Actually, the ship has already been christened ‘Peace Envoy One’—”

  “No way am I flying in a ship called anything related to peace.” Wang stood with the rest of the squad, gawking at the massive ship in front of them. “We’re the War Wolves, remember? We’re not riding into battle on something called Peace Envoy One. Besides, Riot already told us, this should be Peace Envoy Two if we’re going to be at all accurate.”

  “You told them?” Deborah’s eyes grew to twice their size as she looked at Riot in disbelief. “You’re going to get me fired.”

  “Easy, Bubbles, you’re going to pop a manicure.” Riot began walking forward to get a better view of their ship. “Everyone’s fine and on the same page now.”

  The squad was given the clearance to travel to level ten where the alien ships were kept. In the massive underground hangar, there were a dozen that ranged from single-person fighter ships with lasers mounted on the sides and a rocket system in the rear, to massive whales of space transports that looked like cruise liners capable of intergalactic travel. Each ship was painted dark grey with dark purple highlights that glinted in the light.

  The ship Riot and her crew were standing in front of belonged to the cruiser class. A long nose came out in front of it, with wings on the sides that looked like they each had a bird’s talon at the end. To the rear, three thrusters stood side by side. The ship looked like it could carry twice their number comfortably.

  It looks just like the ships in the movies, Riot thought as she shook her head. You’re actually going to do this. You’re actually going into space in the name of SPEAR.

  “Rizzo and I have been studying the ship, but to actually see it…” Vet shook his head, still amazed. “I can die a happy man now.”

  “Wait until you see inside.” Deborah, over her fit of anxiety for the moment, led the squad to the rear of the ship, where she pressed a pad on the metal door, and a large ramp lowered. “I’ll give you the tour, starting with the cargo bay and leading to the rest of the ship.”

  Deborah’s voice trailed off as she led a wide-eyed Wang and Vet deeper into the grey-painted ship’s interior.

  Rizzo sidled up next to Riot. His hands moved slowly, allowing Riot to track his words. Even after a full three weeks of practicing every day, Riot was still struggling to understand the language. It was, however, getting easier, and she was able to understand simple sentences.

  We’ve got to rename the ship. Rizzo arched his eyebrow. For real, though.

  “We will.” Riot lowered her voice, although she doubted she could be overheard over Deborah’s own. “I have a feeling one of us will be able to sneak away and get our hands on some paint.”

  I heard that. Rizzo motioned with his hands, and a smirk came over his lips. You do realize you’re taking a mute, a Barbie, an anus, and a cupid with you into space, right?

  “An anus and a cupid?” Riot repeated the words, shaking her head. “I think Wang’s been switching out a few words for his amusement while he’s been teaching me.”

  Rizzo smiled and shook his head. He took a minute to spell out the two words: addict, and cyclops.

  “Yeah, I guess when you put it that way, we’re a regular group of handicapped Marines going into space. We’re all already broken on the inside, so maybe it makes sense to be broken on the outside, as well. Wait a minute, what do you mean, Wang’s an addict?”

  Rizzo lowered his head, still keeping eye contact with Riot. His eyebrows rose as he made the hand sign for, Really?

  “I thought he seemed peppier than usual.”

  He’s a medic who has access to medicines and probably some kind of alcohol. Rizzo broke off his hand gestures as Wang called to them.

  “Come on, you two! You have to see this. It’s like that old show, Star Trek!”

  “I’ll talk to him,” Riot reassured Rizzo as the two ended their conversation and followed Wang’s voice.

  As Deborah showed them around the ship, Riot found herself more and more impressed by the alien craft. Their rooms were larger than she had thought, even bigger than the one they currently shared at the Bulwark. Each room had its own shower and a restroom. The mess hall area was large and comfortable. There was even a space for training, and a separate armory that would hold their gear and weapons.

  Riot followed Deborah down the wide halls, listening to her explain to Vet and Wang how this was not like Star Trek at all, but more similar to Star Wars.

  “Oh, don’t get him started on Star Wars.” Wang shook his head furiously. “Vet is usually a quiet guy, but once he starts, it’s word vomit all over the place.”

  “Well, you can make your own decision on what science fiction empire this ship fits best into.” Deborah stopped at a closed steel door. “I want to introduce you to someone before y
ou see the bridge. Evonne, are you online?”

  “I’m always online,” a female voice came from all around them. “I’m an AI. We don’t need to sleep, eat, or go on vacations. Doctor Miller, how may I help you?”

  “No freaking way.” Vet had breathed the words more than he’d said them. “We have a mother-sucking AI on our ship?”

  “I don’t understand the use of your words ‘mother-sucking,’” Evonne’s voice spoke through the ship again. “But I’m here to assist you in whatever way I can.”

  “Evonne will be able to assist us both on Peace Envoy One, as well as join us in the field, if we choose,” Deborah explained. “There’s an option to have her AI attach to the inside of our helmets.”

  “And you can see us and everything?” Riot asked to the walls around her, unsure of where she should look. “You’re the ship itself?”

  “Oh, yes. Until I’m moved, I live in the ship’s mainframe.” Evonne paused for a moment. “I can see you all fine, as well as pull up your files to get to know you better. For instance, I see that Corporal Chen Wang has been to jail multiple times for indecent exposure.”

  “That was once!” Wang looked up at nothing. “One time. I went to a Halloween party in a speedo. I was supposed to be an Asian Michael Phelps!”

  “I see that Master Sergeant Gertrude Riot has—”

  “That’s enough!” Riot felt her body seize at the mention of her first name. She had kept it under wraps all these years, and now a stupid AI had let the cat out of the bag. “Deborah, show us the bridge.”

  Gertrude? Rizzo spelled out the letters. Really?

  “Gertrude is a great name.” Wang was trying to suppress a bout of laughter and was losing in the process. “Great name, if you’re my mom.”

  Riot stared daggers at Wang until he composed himself.

  Deborah cleared her throat. “We should get going before Riot kills one of you. Evonne, if you would, please open the door to the bridge.”

  “My pleasure.” Evonne sounded like she was smiling as she obeyed the request.

  “Star Trek,” Wang said as he walked into the room. “Definitely Star Trek.”

  Riot followed her men in. In front of them were three massive windows. One level was equipped with a captain’s chair in the center, just in front of it, the pilot’s seat, and to the right and to the left, a handful of other stations. From her study of the schematics, Riot knew they were reserved for officers on the bridge, and controlled everything from weapons to communications.

  “Take a good look,” Riot told her squad. “This is going to be our home while we’re in space. We have under forty-eight hours to familiarize ourselves with the ship, so let’s get to work.”

  17

  The next day was spent moving into their new quarters and familiarizing themselves with the ship. Riot’s belongings were simple; no more than a few duffels to carry aboard. The armory was equipped with their gear, as well as the weapons they had chosen to bring with them. Vet spent most of his time in the engine room getting to finally handle everything he’d been studying for the last few weeks.

  Rizzo still practiced in the simulator in which he’d learned to fly the ship; however, anytime Riot couldn’t find him there, he was sure to be sitting in the pilot’s seat, drilling over and over again.

  As soon as the okay was given, Wang moved his supplies into the medical bay, and there, Riot finally got a moment alone with him. It was the morning of their launch, though their first opportunity by themselves.

  “So, are we pranking Doctor Miller?” Wang looked up from his spot next to a cabinet full of medicines. “We prank every newbie. It’s kind of a tradition.”

  Riot took a moment to look over the room. A row of exam beds, walls with built-in glass cabinets showing a variety of bottles she didn’t recognize. Flat-screen digital displays and more equipment by each bed that could have been anything from heart monitors to defibrillators, as far as Riot could guess.

  “No, we only jump in members of the War Wolves. Bubbles is just a person of interest.” Riot sat on one of the tables, facing Wang. “Rizzo said he’s cooking up something for our suits, though. He wouldn’t tell me what, but I bet it’ll be cool.”

  “Are you sure we can’t do something to prank her?”

  The way Wang asked made Riot realize he had already done something to the doctor, whether she realized it or not.

  “Isn’t going into space enough for us right now?” Riot emphatically shook her head. “No. No pranks. That’s the final word.”

  “I better get those mice out of her bed, then,” Wang sighed. He placed one last bottle on the shelf before closing the glass door. “They were so hard to sneak in there.”

  “Before we go, I want to know you’re straight.” Riot hopped off the bed and blocked Wang’s exit. “Are you using again?”

  “What would make you think that?”

  “Why don’t you answer the question?”

  “Listen, I can handle it. A taste here and there helps with my attention deficit disorder. It just evens me out, nothing more.”

  Riot took a moment to think about that. He was the smartest out of all of them, even the good Doctor Bubbles. Sure, she may know more about whatever it was she had spent time studying, but there was no one faster than Wang at picking something up. Already he had remembered and relearned sign language. So much so that he and Rizzo were able to have complete conversations back and forth.

  “I don’t even know what you’re talking about, and to be honest, I don’t want to know.” Riot gave Wang a hard stare. “I’m trusting you on this one, because I know you would never do anything to put your brothers in harm’s way. If you feel anything but one hundred percent when we go out into the field, you let me know.”

  “I will, Gertru—I mean, Riot.” Wang gave her a sideways grin. “Master Sergeant Riot.”

  “Call me by my first name again and, friend or not, I’ll castrate you and leave you on Hoydren. I’m serious about that, but also about you keeping yourself in check.”

  “Sorry, it was the wrong time to joke.” The grin disappeared from Wang’s face. He set his jaw and gave Riot a salute. “Master Sergeant, I’m here because of you. I won’t let you down. We don’t carry the War Wolf tattoo lightly.”

  “What tattoo?”

  “The tattoo we all agreed to get.” Wang began unbuttoning his shirt to show her. “When we were wasted in Afghanistan before the whole Syndicate mess.”

  Wang unbuttoned his shirt and brought out his left shoulder. His torso was a canvas of different-colored ink, and the tattoos on his body ranged from an angel with blue wings on his chest, to a woman with vampire-like teeth on his forearm. Dead center on his left shoulder was a snarling wolf in black ink.

  “You must have been drunker than we thought.” Riot shook her head, unbuttoning her own shirt and showing Wang her bare shoulder. “You did that by yourself.”

  “What the hell?” Wang’s jaw dropped open. His brow scrunched in confusion as everything he thought as reality shattered into a million pieces. “But Rizzo and Vet got theirs, didn’t they?”

  “Nope.” Riot shook her head, chuckling. “You did that by yourself. It looks good, by the way.”

  “Rizzo! Vet!” Wang passed Riot on his way out of the med bay. “Did you guys lie to me about your wolf tattoos!?”

  Evonne’s ethereal voice came from nowhere and everywhere at once. The AI’s tone was the same as a woman in her late thirties to early forties, but for some reason, she now had an Australian accent. “Master Sergeant Riot?”

  “Uh, yeah?” Riot was still getting used to talking to the AI. She looked up and around the room before reminding herself there was nothing to see. “Why are you talking with an accent?”

  “Corporal Mohammad Vetash has deemed it necessary to change my vocal pattern. When I inquired as to why, he said he’s trying out different options.” Evonne paused for a moment as if she were thinking on what that meant exactly. “But that is not the reason I
wanted to contact you. Doctor Miller informed me of the issue with Corporal Rizzo being able to communicate with the rest of the squad in the field.”

  “And you were able to find a solution?”

  “Yes, along with Doctor Miller and Corporal Vetash, we constructed a keyboard mounted on the left forearm of all of your armored suits. It will have predesigned messages, as well as a fully functional keyboard so he can communicate with the rest of the squad. His text will appear in your helmet display. You will all have this unique typing feature, but I imagine Corporal Rizzo will get the most use from it.”

  “Perfect.” Riot wasn’t sure why she was still standing in the med bay. She had a list of things to accomplish before they launched only a few short hours from now. She exited the room, headed for her own quarters. “Is there anything else?”

  “Yes.” Evonne’s voice followed her down the hall of the ship. “Your uniform has been sent to your room. Also, a ship’s leader is most often referred to as a captain. Shall I call you Captain Riot?”

  “Hell, no. What are you trying to do to me, woman?” Riot shook her head. “I’m not a captain. Just call me Riot, that’ll be fine.”

  “Understood. However, I am not a woman. I do not possess the required physical attributes to be called one. For example, I lack both a pair of breasts and a vagina. I also do not have the—”

  “Evonne, I get it. Enough.” Riot again shook her head, trying to focus on getting to her room and changing into the uniform they would wear while traveling. “I can’t believe I’m going to be stuck on a ship with an AI who uses the word ‘vagina.’”

  18

  Who did it?” Deborah stood on the bridge with the rest of the squad, her fists clenched so tightly on her hips, the whites of her knuckles showed. It was the angriest Riot had ever seen her. “You know what I’m talking about. Which one of you did it?”