Grendel Unit 1: Bad Day at Khor-wa Read Online Free PDF Page A

yellow-green ones in the other.  "The grey ones are smoke.  If something goes wrong, get out into an open area and drop them all around you.  I'll still be able to find you with our sensors and be able to scoop you up."
    S'bal snorted in derision, "Smoke bombs?  Do you know cheap it is to get smoke filters uploaded to sunglasses?"
    "Not these," Buehl said.  "Thes e have a specific spectrometer frequency that not only−"
    "Hey," Vic said.  "He doesn't need to know what he doesn't need to know." 
    Frank looked down at the yellow-green ones and sniffed them, rearing back in disgust, "What are these?"
    "Vomit bombs.  Chu ck them into a crowd and people will start getting sick all over the place.  Best way to disperse a group is to get people projectile vomiting at them."
    "You're a sick man, Bob," Vic said.  "That must be why you're my favorite.  So we're good to go?"
    "No," Monster said.  He reached past Buehl's head and collected two knives sheathed in square metal casings.  "You said this was a stealth mission.  Since the dawn of time nothing has been a quieter way of dispatching enemies than the blade."  He drew one of the knives and showed them how it began to hum with life and vibrate softly.  "That knife can cut through six inches of tank armor."
    "Good.  I was wondering how we were going to deal with all the tanks down there," Frank said.  "Thank God I've got this pocket knife."
    Vic took his knife and clipped it to his belt with a slight smile.  He looked back at S'bal and said, "You ever made a Baumgartner Jump before?"
    The fish's lips curled in hesitation, "What's that?"
    Buehl removed three air masks from the closet and three loose body suits made of shining black plastic.  "We'll descend to about twenty-five miles over Khor-Wa's surface so you guys can drop down and parachute in."
    S'bal snickered as the air mask was dangled in front of him, preferring not to participate in the men's joke.  When the other two strapped their masks on, he stepped back and said, "Wait, are you crazy bastards serious?"

Chapter 3: Prev ious Intel
     
    It started with a distress call two months prior.
    Vic was in his quarters, sleeping fitfully.  In space flight there is no day or night, just the hum of the engines and the dark emptiness just beyond his cabin window.  He found that he slept more when he was aboard, and hated it.  It left him feeling groggy the entire day and often, with a throbbing headache.  He wondered if the air on board the ship was too thin, or too thick, and their sensors were just reading it wrong. 
    The comm on his wall beeped and Buehl said, "Captain, are you awake?"
    Vic rolled over and wiped his eyes, squinting in the dim light, "What is it?"
    "We're receiving an all-channel distress call from Sector 3, the Cinth-Combs outpost on Gennewolf." 
    Vic looked around the room, trying to untangle his thoughts from his dreams.  They stuck together like cobwebs, even as he shook his head, trying to force himself awake. 
    "Captain?" Buehl said.
    "All hands on deck," Vic finally mumbled. 
    The ship's alarm sounded and flashed in the hallway as he pulled on his t-shirt and slid into the same pair of pants he'd left lying by the edge of the bed only hours before.  He laced up his boots and headed through the door, almost colliding into Frank.  "What's going on?" Frank said.
    "Time to go to work, I guess."
    "Good.  All this peace and quiet was making me nuts."
    Monster was already sitting in his chair, manning the communications systems.  "What's the problem?" Vic said. 
    "It's unclear.  The signal's being broadcast by multiple areas on the outpost.  Whatever it is, it's chaotic at the moment." 
    "See if you can patch us through."
    Monster typed several commands into his computer, announcing, " Cinth-Combs Tower, this is Unification vessel Samsara , responding to your signal.  Confirm."  He repeated the announcement several times, until he finally said, "Nothing."
    Vic rubbed his