Breve swung the Chimera round and waited to load. Karni caught her sergeant’s eye. ‘So this is it?’ Karni said as they mounted the ramp of the landing craft and came to a halt.

Minka nodded. This was it.

Three

THREE

It took a few minutes until Breve had the Chimera in the right place. The loading crews were intent that each vehicle was loaded precisely, and Breve had cursed a number of times before the officials were happy. ‘We don’t want the ship capsizing!’ the crewman called up, as if in apology.

Breve was still cursing, but Minka put her hand to her helmet. She agreed with that.

One by one, each Chimera was loaded and stowed. When the vehicles were all aboard, the ship’s smoke-stack let out a great gritty cloud and shunted off from the beach, the water churning white as its blunt snout slammed into the waves.

Medic Banting was going in with them. His Chimera had red turret markings and the back was open. Inside, Minka could see everything needed for a field hospital. Banting was in full officious mode as he had the medics check off the barrels of blood plasma, boxes of stimms, metal tins of field dressings and hanging plastek sheaths of field tourniquets.

He was furious with anyone stupid enough to go near him. He’d seen the bloodbath at Tor Tartarus. ‘I don’t know why Bendikt has agreed to this. It’s going to be a massacre,’ he snapped to Minka. ‘They should be sending penal troops in!’

Minka was calm. ‘They want the job done properly.’

‘It’ll be a disaster. They’re not making any more of you, you know.’

‘Apparently they are,’ Minka said. ‘Haven’t you seen them?’

Banting grunted something in reply. Minka didn’t bother answering.

Dido’s command squad were dismounting. They had a new Chimera, a reserve tank with freshly painted squad and company markings.

‘How is she?’ Banting asked.

Minka guessed he meant Dido. ‘Fine,’ she said.

‘Good.’

Minka paused. There was something in the way that he had spoken. ‘Is there something I should know?’

Banting brushed past her. ‘Lesk. You’re one of Dido’s sergeants. If there is anything wrong I’m sure you’d be the first to know.’

The first two waves were a mix of landing craft and Pegasus Amphibious Assault Vehicles. The Pegasus were lighter variants that forewent the front guns in favour of assault ramps and flotation tanks. They would be leading the first wave into the tight coves of Faith Beach and then Creed Beach. Seventh Company were going in to Tyrok Beach. Their attack there would be in the third wave. Each had their own specific objectives.

Minka readied herself. Her pack was almost as big as she was, and the Chimera was loaded with sheaths of razor wire, entrenching tools and materiel to supply the squad for weeks.