In the main apartment, two members of the platoon were shimmying up the ropes. Julie Einstein had positioned herself to cover the two doors into the apartment.
::They’re going to cover the two levels above us,:: Einstein said. ::The hole goes through rooms on those levels with only one entrance to them. At least that’s what the floor plan says. Top level is wide open, though.::
::Transport on its way,:: Alex Roentgen said. ::We’ve been spotted up here and we’re starting to take fire.::
::We need people to cover us coming up,:: Sagan said. ::And to lay down suppressing fire on the first level. It’s open; that’s where they’re going to come through.::
::On it,:: Roentgen said.
Sagan handed the heir to Pauling, unslung her equipment pack and pulled out a shoulder sling with a pouch sized to accommodate the heir. She stuffed the squalling heir into the pouch with some difficulty, secured it and placed the sling across her body with the strap over her right shoulder.
::I’m center line,:: Sagan said. ::Dirac, you’re left; Pauling, right. Einstein will cover us as we climb, and then you two cover her and the other two from the top as they get out. Clear?::
::Clear,:: Jared and Pauling said.
::Reload my Empee and give it to Einstein,:: Sagan said to Jared. ::She won’t have time to reload.:: Jared cleared the magazine from Sagan’s Empee, reloaded it with one of his spares, and handed it to Einstein. She took it and nodded.
::We’re ready for you,:: Roentgen said from above. ::You better hurry.::
As they went to their lines they heard the sound of heavy Eneshan footfalls. Einstein began firing as they started to climb. At each of the next two levels Jared’s platoon mates were calmly waiting, sighted in on their sole entrances. Jared’s integration told him they were both scared shitless and waiting for the shoe to drop.
From above Jared new firing began. The Eneshans had come through on the top level.
Sagan was weighed down by the heir but lacking her Empee or her equipment pack; on balace she was traveling light, and flew up her line, ahead of Jared and Pauling. The pair of bullets that stitched across her shoulder hit her as she was within reach of the top, and grasping for the hand of Julian Lowell to pull her up. A third bullet slipped past Sagan’s shoulder and struck Lowell directly above his right eye, passing through his brain before ricocheting off the inside of his skull and burying itself in his neck, severing his carotid in the process. Lowell’s head snapped back and then forward, his body slumping and falling forward into the hole. He collided with Sagan as he fell, tearing the final scrap of fabric that kept intact the sling holding the heir. Sagan felt the tear and the sling falling away but was too occupied trying to keep herself from falling to do anything about it.
::Catch it,:: she said, and was grabbed by Alex Roentgen and pulled to safety.
Jared grabbed and missed; it was too far away. The sling rippled past Pauling, who snatched it as it fell and then swung as it described an arc around her.
From below, Jared sensed a surprised shock of pain from Julie Einstein. Her Empee went silent. The rustling sound that followed was the sound of Eneshans climbing into the heirarch’s chambers.
Pauling looked up at Jared. ::Climb,:: she said.
Jared climbed without looking down. As he passed the upper level of the palace he glimpsed the bodies of a score of dead Eneshans, and more live Eneshans behind them firing at Jared as he climbed, while Jared’s platoon mates fired back with bullets and grenades. Then he was beyond them, pulled up by an unseen platoon mate onto the roof of the palace. He turned back to see Sarah Pauling on her line, sling in hand, Eneshans below her aiming upward at her. Holding the sling, she could not climb.
Pauling looked at Jared, and smiled. ::Beloved,:: she said, and flung the sling to him as the first of the bullets struck her body. Jared reached as she danced on her line, moved by the force of the projectiles that overwhelmed the defenses of her unitard and tore into her legs, torso, back and skull. He caught the sling as she fell, and pulled it from the hole as she found its bottom. He felt the last second of her life and then it was gone.
He was screaming as they pulled him into the transport.