Soul at War Read Online Free PDF

hell are you?" He replied.
Muscles rippled under his blood stained vest, which on this
occasion wasn't regulation issue black. In fact, I guessed it might
have even been white a long time ago. As the sweat poured down his
brow and into his eyes, he swept it away with a broad
arm.
    "Lieutenant John Shap. Didn't have
time to grab my rank on the way out of the door," I said, saluting
in the cock-sure manner most of my peers would have done to make
sure the Sergeant understood who I was. It wasn't my style but I
could already feel the bristles on his back. We weren't going to be
best buddies just yet I expected.
    “I'm sorry sir, I didn't realise you
were on board yet. I wasn't informed...” he replied through what I
was sure were gritted teeth.
    “Understood. Situation?”
    “We've steadied the Midian, just
trying to remove the docking arm now sir.”
    “Then that's where I will be Sergeant.
As you were.”

    I took the service elevator to the
docking level, passed by docking arm three where they were just
starting to carry out the bodies of the very Red's we'd
killed.
    "Hold on," I said to the nearest Tech.
I began to collect the dog tags, eighteen in total.
    "What are you doing?" The Tech asked,
stunned. "They're to be destroyed with the bodies."
    "I want the bodies kept in storage
until I say otherwise. Understand?"
    "What will the Captain
say?"
    "Any problems, send him to me. I want
these soldiers bagged and examined by the medical team." The Techs
carried on towards the Med-Bay "Like I said, send him to
me."
    As they disappeared, I looked at each
dog tag in turn. Michael Kurn. Jake Lathon. Joseph Freth. The names
went on. Under every name though, the fanatic logo of
ARC.
    *
    Of the six arms that extended like
tentacles into the steel hull of the Midian, four were floating
free by the time I reached the fifth. A crew was in the airlock
wearing breathers and Tech's were severing electrical connections a
wire at a time. A short man in overalls was stood watching over the
team.
    "Lieutenant Shap. What's the
situation?" I asked him. His hand shot up to salute. I returned the
gesture.
    “We can't free the docking arm. The
electrics were easy but the steel is imbedded into the hull right
down to the sixth skin.”
    “Is there any way I can help?” I said
and the Tech's eyes gave me a surprised look.
    "Only if you know how to use that
thing, sir!" He laughed and with a podgy hand pointed to a twin
headed plasma cutter that rested on the deck.
    "Fire it up then and show me where you
want it slicing." The smile turned into a grin.
    "You're kidding, right?" I found
gloves and a mask, began adjusting the tungsten electrodes and the
gas pressure feed.
    Minutes later he was directing me to a
fused joint where the Red's arm met the Midian's. I struck up the
arc between the two heads and felt the heat burst across my
skin.
    "Cut only as deep as the second layer
of the internal skin you can see there, behind it is the breach in
the outer hull's skins and we don't want to get spaced here." Sweat
began collecting on the end of my nose, dripping inside the mask.
The UV given off by the arc was scorching the paintwork behind me,
leaving a well defined shadow on the wall.
    "Good, now turn the head slightly,
separate the two stanchions and let us get a lever in." I could
just sense two Techs move in beside me with long poles as the
stanchions expanded apart with the heat. They had to get the poles
in quick before they contracted again.
    "That's it, out of the way, sir," he
said and I slid backwards on my arse. The Techs swiftly moved in
and pulled on the levers. "Brilliant. It's free now, try the
control panel." A Tech punched the controls. There was a grinding
sound of metal on metal. Then the airlock siren sounded.
    "Let's boogey. One more to
go."
    *
    As I finished cutting the final arm
free, I heard the boots before I heard the voice. The crew all
turned at once as the Captain of the Midian appeared in the
corridor.
    "Attention on