Free All My Sins Remembered by Brian Wetherell Page B

acknowledgement to the Marine’s observation.
    “As you know, Colonel Bakore just returned yesterday after poking his nose around in the station and asking some questions.” Commander Schultz began.  A couple of the Marines stifled snickers, and even Tasha had to smile.  Everyone knew when the Colonel had returned.  His horrible howls that passed as singing reverberated throughout the command deck.  His voice could even be heard in select rooms on the decks above and below the command deck, thanks to ducts that served as channels down which the Colonel’s horridly botched rendition of the Gadari Marine Core Anthem echoed.  It was the first time anyone ever remembered seeing their Company Commander drunk, much less heard him sing.  Most hoped to never to hear such howling again.
    “What he learned was that the ship we are after is the Guan Yu .  We suspect that it docks here and exchanges goods with this ship, the Choyo, which is currently docked.” Commander Schultz indicated the display behind him.  Tasha raised an eyebrow as the indications of what Commander Schultz had said began to register.  R.E.S. stood for “Rejai Empire Ship,” a naming standard for ships bearing military personnel that had been in place since the days of ancient earth, before its destruction.  A naval ship bearing military personnel was always preceded with a two or three letter acronym that typically indicated its affiliation.  Thus G.R.S. stood for “Gadari Republic Ship”, and M.F.S.  was “Multani Federation Ship.”
    “What we don’t know,” Commander Schultz continued, “is what the Rejai Empire is doing out here, and why they are supplying a ship that is actively destroying targets of opportunity in this area.” A look of disgust crossed Commander Schultz’s face as he flicked up another document on the display, which provided a detailed schematic for several of Choyo’s decks. “What we do know is that the Choyo has the information we are looking for, so we are going to go in and get it.”  Tasha blinked in surprise.  According to the PMC Accord, any PMC boarding a naval ship in a hostile action while under contract to another empire was considered an act of war.  Unless specifically ordered to, under terms of their contract, most PMC’s would actively avoid such overt hostile actions, but Commander Schultz had just proposed to do just that, as if it were standard operating procedure.  Tasha also noted that the Marines were stone-faced, and didn’t seem surprised at all, but then again they were Marines, trained in the tradition of one of the finest military forces in history.  She had the distinct feeling that if the Commander had said they would be trying to extinguish the fires of hell with a bucket of water, they would wear those same expressions, and expect that they would succeed, simply because they were Marines.  Not for the first time, Tasha wondered if she was a bit out of her league.
    “In order to go in and get this data, there are two possible points of entry.  One point of entry would have been to dress up as station maintenance workers and go in the front door, but we felt it would have been too risky should we be caught at the entrance.  The second is here.” Commander Schultz said, as he used a laser pointer to point at a section of the Choyo’s starboard hull.
    “There is an emergency hatch that can be found on the starboard side of the ship, towards the bottom, which also happens to be facing away from the gantry that extends to the ship.  As with most emergency hatches, this one can be accessed externally as well as internally, with a little convincing.” A feral grin spread across Commander Schultz’s face as he acknowledged the Marines. “That’s where you come in.”  The Corporal sitting in the front row nodded.
    “Corporal Wittaker, you and your fire team will accompany us to the starboard, ventral emergency hatch and secure an entry point, after which all members of