Earth Afire (The First Formic War)

stopped. The Formics had fallen off. Mazer hoped they were getting a hot lava shower. One minute passed. Then two. The sledge bucked and bounced across the floor of the air pocket. Mazer was careful not to eject lava toward Wit’s position, and he hoped Wit was doing the same.
    A large chunk of the lander’s underside fell away, like the floor in a burning house crashing through. A gaping hole remained.
    “Calinga!” said Wit. “You’ve got a hole. I’m sending you scans now. Get in, drop the nuke, and get out if you can.”
    “Roger that. You two get clear. I don’t want to hit you on the way up. I’m coming in hot.”
    Mazer stopped the reverse motion of his tracks and collapsed the stilts. The drill sledge immediately dropped and shot downward, churning through earth below the air pocket and diving deep.
    Mazer called up Calinga’s position on the holo. They passed each other, Mazer going down, Calinga going up. At the last one hundred meters, Calinga put on a burst of speed and shot up through the air pocket. He aimed for the hole perfectly. But since he was coming in at a slight angle, the drill sledge hit the lip of the hole as it entered the lander and flew inside. The contact spun the drill sledge in the air, and it crashed on its side in the lander.
    “Calinga,” said Wit. “Report.”
    The voice that answered was pained but upbeat. “You two get deep. I’ll detonate the nuke.”
    “Hold on,” said Wit. “I’m coming for you.”
    “Negative,” said Calinga. “If you try to make the jump up here, the same thing will happen to you, and we’ll both be dead. I got Formics swarming the sledge already. We couldn’t make the transfer anyway. You two dive. I got this. I’ll give you twenty seconds.”
    “It should have been me,” said Wit. “I should have taken the nuke.”
    “Time to let someone else have the glory.”
    “It’s been an honor,” said Wit.
    “It’s been mine,” said Calinga.
    How could they talk about this so casually? thought Mazer. How could they resign themselves so easily?
    Because they’re MOPs, Mazer realized. Because they’re intelligent soldiers, because they know there’s no other way. “Ten seconds,” said Calinga. “They’re starting to tear into the canopy. I can’t delay here.”
    Mazer punched it, going hot. He counted down the seconds in his head, watching the holo on his dash. At zero, the blip that was Calinga’s drill sledge winked out.
    *   *   *
     
    Mazer headed for the predetermined location on the map where they had agreed to resurface. None of them knew what the blast radius for an underground nuke would be, but the reach of the radiation would likely be wide. The best they could do was pick a spot ten kilometers away, or the maximum distance the drill sledge could travel.
    Mazer broke through the surface at the designated spot and was surprised to see a number of vehicles there on the scanners. He unbuckled, stood, and opened the cockpit.
    Half a dozen Chinese tanks and assault vehicles were parked at the site, along with a platoon of armed Chinese soldiers in radiation suits. Wit had already arrived. He was down from his drill sledge stepping into a radiation suit two soldiers held open for him, arguing with an officer.
    The officer turned and faced Mazer, smiling. It was Shenzu, Mazer’s contact at the Chinese base who had threatened to shoot Mazer down for taking the HERC. “Captain Mazer Rackham. Welcome back. On behalf of the Chinese Army, we thank you for destroying one of the landers and the biomass. Here, step into this suit. There’s a communicator inside. We’re likely safe at this distance, but we will err on the side of caution.”
    “The blast was a success?” Mazer asked.
    Shenzu smiled. “This is a great day in China. We have scored a huge victory. Also, you are under arrest.”
    For a moment Mazer thought he had misheard.
    “We just destroyed the guys who have been slaughtering your people,” said Wit. “You’re supposed to see what we did and copy it.”
    “Oh we’ll copy it,” said Shenzu. “We have people working on that right now. This is only one lander after all. The war is far from over. But in the meantime, there are the charges against you. Illegally crossing our borders, stealing government property, conducting a nuclear strike on Chinese soil. All serious offenses. I am to escort you to a holding facility.”
    “This is how you show your thanks?” said Mazer.
    “Don’t worry,