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MARINE PRIVATE

Private Bassiritz did not understand his orders

Normally, this was not much of a concern for him In his years as a marine, he had performed crowd control, jumped into friendly fire, executed snatch-and-runs, and even carried out an assassination Ground coenerally the details were co as Bassiritz knew ally froht of the crew of the Lynx as his allies, however As the Time Thief stole more and more faces from home, his shipmates had effectively becoht from the captain, ready to do violence to some of them This didn&039;t host over the last week--the jittering of his bunk, the reeling of floors and walls, the coun to affect the very fabric of reality

For the thousandth ti the h And he knew that he would follow orders when the time came He could comprehend no other course of action But he didn&039;t like the feeling it gave him

Bassiritz felt out of place here in Navy country The floors and the freefall handholds were the wrong color, and everyone had given him slanty looks as he&039;d followed Executive Officer Hobbes down the corridors And now they were here, waiting in the captain&039;s cabin The rooer than his parents&039; house; the skyroom alone could have held the bunk coffins of his entire squad What did the captain do with all this roouess The captain wasn&039;t here

Executive Officer Hobbes was She would be the only friend in this operation, Bassiritz knew The other three officers had gone bad,beside the door across fros on her shoulders She eating, twitching frohost Outside, a slight gunner waited on watch He was bad too, but Hobbes had asked Bassiritz not to kill him unless it was absolutely necessary The marine private hoped he wouldn&039;t have to kill anyone

The last conspirator, another gunnery officer, stood in the roo a short, wide knife Bassiritz had never seen a blade of error before He had hoped he never would They were bad luck, it was reckoned back in his village Once you possessed the tool, you&039;d eventually be called on to do the work, they said at hooing to use up his pay, hot shower

There were two quick raps on the door Hobbes had explained to hiht The captain was approaching alone Bassiritz shook his head involuntarily--none of this was right But he was pretending to be a conspirator, so he s he held in one hand

The s on his face He didn&039;t like this one bit

ExO Hobbes stole a look at hin, but one thatreally Just a reminder that he was here under orders

"Stay cool and everything will go fine," she had said to hi was fine, though

The door opened The captain entered

The four of therabbed Captain Zai (striking the captain--an Error of Blood right there) and propelled him forward Bassiritz&039;s quick eyes could see Hobbes slip so experience that the subtle motion had been too quick for normal people to see As the captain fell toward hiross i into Captain Zai&039;sthe cry that uttered froer vibrate his hand, but the unnery officer was ju forward, his blade of error leveled at the captain&039;s stoht hand shot out To the rest of them, trapped in their slow- hiloves to cover their fingerprints) grabbed the blade of error, guiding its wild trajectory straight into the center of Zai&039;s stomach

Those were his orders No near ht into the stomach: dead center

ExO Hobbes hadn&039;t told him exactly why Bassiritz hadn&039;t asked But the recorded e from the captain had assured him that this was all part of the plan

Bassiritz felt the knife go in, right on target There was a sickly squelch, and a warunner&039;s hands

Captain Zai runt, and tumbled face-first onto the ritual unner pressed down on Zai&039;s back, having left the blade in hi at Bassiritz&039;s boots One of them had a fleck of blood on it Blood What had they done here?

Bassiritz looked at Hobbes for the next signal

The executive officer shook her head alrew silent, a last shuddering sigh coazed in horror at the blood that flowed froely, tiny rivers branching out like the living tendrils of a sea creature, shuddering with odd tre it Bassiritz reflexively stepped back froer of the red liquid that reached for his boot

The captain was not breathing What had they done?

"It&039;s over," Hobbes said

The pilot leaned back against the wall, covered her face with her hands

The gunner stuht, then," he said Ho lifted a sle codeword into it Bassiritz remembered to look at ExO Hobbes

Hobbes winked her left eye Now The unner&039;s throat The man crumpled to the bloody floor, most likely still alive Bassiritz turned to watch the rest

Hobbes was already ina slap to the pilot&039;s face with a loud crack The larger wo shock of the slap A good way to confuse someone, but only for a few seconds Bassiritz stepped forward But before he could strike, a second crack rang out

The electric sun filled the roole

The pilot dropped to the floor

The captain leapt up, the dazer in his bloody hand He whirled to face the fallen gunner, but the man was motionless Bassiritz knew fro up for hours

"Captain?" Hobbes asked

"I&039; "Well done"

The door burst open; more marines, Bassiritz noted happily The Navy was too co for the conspirators outside was alared with hatred at ExO Hobbes

"Any reaction fronal?" the captain asked

Hobbes listened, then nodded "Two crew frounnery left their posts, sir Headed for my cabin, apparently"

"Don&039;t take them yet Let&039;s see what they&039;re up to," he ordered

The captain pulled the ringlets of his tunic with a single ripping arment parted One last rush of blood spattered onto the floor Bassiritz noted the armor strapped to his undershirt; it only covered his stomach

Bassiritz smiled The captain certainly had confidence in him If the blade of error hadfor real

One of the other unnery officer cru ed forward in his captors&039; arms Bassiritz slipped between him and the captain, an arm raised to strike But the unner cried "Letto plan, but Bassiritz found his relief turning bitter in his mouth These were his crewmates, condemned to death for their sha man, her eyes downcast

"In due tiunner fro ain "Another response to the transponder A notice went up on a public board, a few moments after your &039;murder,&039; sir An anonyunnery bunks"

"A coincidence?"

"There is no Section F, sir"

Captain Zai shook his head "How many of my crew are in on this?" he wondered aloud

"At least two more, sir One to send, another to receive Whoever posted it was clever, though We can&039;t crack the anonyunnery officer and sat heavily on his bed "I seeravity for a fall, sir I&039;ll get medical up here"

"Think we can trust them?" the captain said

Hobbes was silent

Then she said, "Well, at least the marines are with us, sir"

Captain Zai looked at Bassiritz and smiled wanly

"Good work, soldier"

"Thank you, sir," Bassiritz answered, eyes front

"You ed to stab me dead center"