Trial by Ice Read Online Free PDF

south.” He looked at the reactions of the NCOs in front of him. A few eyes lit up. “I’m looking for some information. On my end, we were to blink in, drop the capsules and blink out. What was the objective?”
    The NCOs looked to Sebastien but he kept his eyes on William.
    “Secure the needle. That was goal number one. The Marines had a secondary objective, refinery I think,” Berry replied in a slow drawl. He looked around at the other NCOs and they agreed.
    “What was the secondary? What sort of resistance was expected?”
    “There was a refinery, one that wasn’t supposed to be here. The Army was to secure the needle and hold it while we took the refining array before they could destroy it,” Sebastien said. “We didn’t expect resistance.”
    The men around the room nodded. The shock was still lingering.
    “Neither did we, this was supposed to be routine.”
    “So what happened?” Berry asked. His tone insinuated blame.
    William looked at Berry for a moment before replying. “I wish I knew, I was working to support the drop. I was in the dropcap bay. I haven’t seen any survivors that were with the rest of the ship.”
    The wind slammed into the shelter like a solid wave. Everyone turned to watch the wall bend bow inward before finally relaxing. The wind had returned.
    “Keep the outside time short. Everyone watch for frostbite in your men, break everyone into squads and rotate outside. Questions?” William said.
    “What about the wounded?” Berry asked.
    William looked to Vito and replied. “We’ve cut off the worst injured with the hopes of keeping the less injured going a bit longer.”
    “Why? We’ll have to carry them.”
    William looked around to the NCOs. The Marines turned red. “We’re not leaving anyone. We’re stopping the patches tomorrow. Whoever survives is coming with us. We’ve already stopped patches for the most wounded.”
    Berry nodded with a slight smile on his chapped lips. “All right, Captain.” He stood and stomped into the cold.
    William watched him stride out defiantly. He looked back to the NCOs and saw curious eyes. He needed to talk to Berry and hammer this out.
    “All right, we’ll meet up again at the end of the day. Selim, get a ration count and stand a guard on it, you’re in charge of rations. We’re going to allow a full ration tonight, but half tomorrow.”
    Selim nodded. “Full rations?”
    “Full,” William replied. “Give them one last full meal.”
    The men before him were silent.
     
    * * *
     
    Berry bent over and stomped back to the main tent. The air inside was mostly still but the wind seemed to pinch in at every seam. He found Grue and Nur and sat beside them.
    “We’re going south boys,” Berry said.
    Grue’s eyes smoldered. “I’m not your boy.”
    “Calm down, Mr. Grue, I respect a professional.” Berry let the words hang and watched for the reaction. There, the shoulders dropped a bit and the eyebrows relaxed. “Who knows where things might lead us? A professional is always in style.”
    “Abandoned. Just shitcanned aside,” Grue said.
    “What’s to the south?” Nur asked.
    Berry didn’t know and that bothered him. To the south was freedom from the cold, that much he knew.
    “What’d you happen to be in charge of on that ship?” Berry asked Grue.
    “I worked with the reactor team.”
    Berry nodded and shivered. The combination of the aches, chills, and tensions sapped the energy out of him. “We’ll get out of this together. You might need someone who knows how to shoot, right?”
    Grue raised his eyes. Thin growths of frost was caked on his eyelashes. “I’ll keep it in mind.”
    Berry nodded and saw the augment enter the tent and sit. Big bastard, he thought. He dropped the bag away and braved the chill to go and speak to him.
    Sebastien nodded to Berry. “Corporal.”
    Might as well get to the point. “You going to let that Midshipman tell you where to go?”
    Sebastien tilted his head.
    “We need to get