17th October 1984

ARC Extraction and Refining Facility

Lagrange 5

Isabella shifted uncomfortably as she wiped her dirty visor with a piece of charged cloth. Staying close to the grey surface stony asteroid provided good concealment from enemy eyeballs and a braced firing position. The downside was that the rock was cold, uncomfortable. Like the moon and most asteroids, the rock was also covered in sticky, powdery, razor-sharp dust with the consistency and carcinogenicity of pulverized asbestos.

"JGSS Tieshan Gongzhu, this is Shego. Sergeant Hirano is KIA, and her suit is in enemy hands. I tried to destroy the radio at range, but I might have missed something. Can you kill her radio from your end?"

"Negative, Shego. We'll just have to watch out."

"I don't think we can win this one, Lieutenant Garcia-Shapiro. We're down to three effectives. With fire support, we can probably keep them holed up in Spin Hub, but reinforcements would be nice."

Isabella closed her eyes, and blinked away tears, which formed small floating droplets inside her helmet. Her vision blurred with adhered tears, interfering with her ability to use the scope of her grenade launcher. The Marine fought the urge to disobey orders and shoot the fragile spin hub, currently housing a diminished number of Spetsnaz troops.

It wasn't worth it. Damage to the spin hubs might send the eight spinning modules, attached to the two spin hubs via connecting tubes and tethers, on a one-way trip into deep space, or dash them against the station's attached rocks. It wasn't worth killing the three hundred of her fellow Pacificans being held captive.

Kim's voice came in over her helmet. "Lieutenant? Do you want us to try the airlock on the other end of the spin hub? An attack from the rear might work…"

If she had been down there, she would have been fine. Adrenaline would have kept her running at a hundred and ten percent. Up here, looking over the battlefield like an impotent god…

…she had too much time to think.

"No, Agent. The situation remains unchanged. The rear airlock is too close to the enemy. They'll rip you to shreds the moment that airlock light turns green, even with an emergency quick-cycle."

"What about the emergency door on the shredded tube?"

"Sounds like the best option we have. Go for it."

"You got it, Isabella."

"Tether's out of reach. Ron, hold on to my legs. Get someone to hold on to you. Okay, this is scary. Ron, let me out further. My knees will hold."

Betty drummed her fingers on her armrest, powerless to aid the Marines. Chongqing came in on Betty's suit radio.

"Tieshan Gongzhu, this is Chongqing. Cease jamming the international band as previously discussed. Confirm when done, over."

In the corner of her eye, Noah punched a few switches, and his chipper voice rang through the channel. "Affirmative, Chongqing. Jamming has ceased. Starting to monitor, over."

Noah frowned as he translated the Russian. "I've got a Soviet transmission, fully encrypted. There are a few unencrypted words, probably codewords. X-5 hasn't detected anything nasty."

"We have your telemetry, Tieshan Gongzhu."

Noah continued his commentary. "Transmission appears to repeat on a 30-second loop. Nothing's happened yet."

Paloma spoke up. "Cupcake finally got the tether. They're preparing to ascend."

Betty switched to the link with Chongqing. "Chongqing, please be advised, assault team ascending tethers to spin hub, over."

"Instruct them to hold their positions, Tieshan Gongzhu."

"Contact, contact! Enemy forces firing on assault team. One down!"

A burst of fire ripped through the orange-suited worker on the second tether, whose body hung limply on the end of his swinging, fifty-meter tether.

Kim gritted her teeth as her own tether continued its unstoppable sway away from the habitat module, into the line of fire.

A fast-moving mass crashed into her, and held onto her for dear life. Her tether continued to swing outward, faster than before. She turned up towards the mass. "Ron?! What the heck are you doing!"

"Extra momentum, KP! Gotta throw off their aim!"

Ron didn't mention that his body would make an excellent bullet sponge.

They began the return swing. A burst of fire missed them by meters.

The Spetsnaz above them cursed herself for her stupidity, and shot out the tethers, readily visible outside the open hatch that had once been the origin of the shredded access tube. A hand on her shoulder shook her, and she ceased fire.

The tether broke, and they began to fall. Ron grabbed on to the lip of the emergency airlock, and Kim grabbed on to Ron's legs. The two surviving volunteers dragged them both back to safety.

"Thanks for the rescue, Ron."

Tieshan Gongzhu came in over the comm. "Cease fire, cease fire! Spetsnaz forces on-station have just surrendered! Cease fire immediately, and do not interfere with enemy attempts to physically contact their personnel!"

Kim looked out the doorway. The tethered, swinging cadaver was gone.

Isabella, in an orange skinsuit without a helmet, stared at the six prisoners of war (POWs), clad in the striped undershirts and blue berets of the Soviet Airborne Troops. Thankfully, the brig's three cells had remained functional despite the fighting, and now housed two prisoners each.

Legal was still wrangling about whether or not capturing the workers for a strategically important facility was a violation of the Geneva Convention, but had ordered Isabella to keep the prisoners safe regardless.

Kim and Ron were still awaiting the repair crew with the replacement access tunnel, and Shego was busy helping JGSS Tieshan Gongzhu finish demining the installation. The Soviets had provided the deactivation codes, but SAC had declined to broadcast them – again, for fear of subterfuge.

Since she had no more Marines to command, the Lieutenant was on guard duty, watching the watchmen to prevent any unfortunate "accidents" from befalling the POWs.

She opened the cell door, and directed the highest-ranking prisoner, a Major, to exit. He sat down under the watchful gaze of an orange-suited worker.

"Major Omarov. Thank you for informing me of the locations of your atomic demolition devices."

The man's English was heavily accented, but otherwise good.

"Thank my government."

"I'd like to ask about my men. I currently only have one confirmed killed in action. Do you have better records?"

"My men fought Marines near the nuclear explosives depot, the spin section, and the main pod. They reported four down. I will not provide you with any information beyond that."

Isabella nodded. Even seemingly innocuous details could give an enemy useful intelligence. "Was it worth it?"

The Spetsnaz major tilted his head. "I will not provide you with that information." His face betrayed his answer.

She couldn't believe everything he said, but it was closure enough. If she wanted, Isabella could probably get her hands on the after-action reports the spooks were sure to write.

A pang of annoyance swept over her. All her Marines – the only Marines in existence with actual experience in close-quarters freefall combat – were dead. Kim and Shego were excellent fighters, but soldiers they were not. Their testimony would be biased towards special warfare or spook work. However marginally, the Marine doctrines and tactics that evolved from their experience would be inferior than if a Marine had survived to testify.

She chided herself for thinking of her men in such impersonal terms.

Tieshan Gongzhu came in over the radio. "Lieutenant, we have completed de-mining the station. We will broadcast the Soviet shutoff codes in five minutes to verify that demining is complete. Please tell everyone to don their helmets."

Isabella straightened, and walked over to the PA.